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RA1 231  .L4  H1 83     Lead  poisoning  in  th 


M  RECAP 
■  ii|ii       II  I  mill      MM    II I 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
BUREAU  OF  LABOR   STATISTICS 


ROYAL  MEEKER,  Commissioner 


BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  [ 
EUREAU    of    labor    STATISTICS)    ' 

jWHOLE 
J  NUMBER 

141 

INDUSTRIAL     ACCIDENTS     AND      HYGIENE      SERIES;     N 

0.      4 

LEAD  POISONING 

IN  THE 

SMELTING  AND  REFINING 

OF  LEAD 

^^^52js^ 

FEBRUARY   17,  1914 

WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 


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'Or 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  LABOR 
BUREAU   OF  LABOR   STATISTICS 

ROYAL  MEEKER,  Commission^ 


BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES^  <  WHOLE    1  yl  1 

'   '   '    \  NUMBER    It-  1 


BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS  [ 


INDUSTRIAL     ACCIDENTS     AND      HYGIENE      SERIES:      No.      4 

LEAD  POISONING  IN  THE 

SMELTING  AND  REFINING 

OF  LEAD 


FEBRUARY    17,  1914 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 

1914 


CONTENTS. 


Lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  and  refining  of  lead:  Page. 

Introduction 5-17 

Dangerous  processes  iu  the  smelting  and  refining  of  lead 6-8 

Dust  and  fumes 9-11 

Sanitary  equipment 11 

Medical  care 11 

Disadvantages  of  a  shifting  force 11, 12 

Prevalence  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  industry 12-14 

Prevention  of  lead  poisoning  in  the-  smelting  industry 14-17 

Construction 15 

Sanitary  equipment 15 

Dust  prevention 16 

Prevention  of  fumes 16 

Control  of  the  workmen 16 

Medical  supervision 16, 17 

Processes  used  in  lead  smelting  and  refining  in  the  United  States 17-49 

Handling  the  ore 17, 18 

Crushing  and  sampling  mills 19,  20 

Transporting  ground  ore 20,  21 

Smelting 21,22 

Furnaces  used  in  lead  smelting  and  refining  in  the  United  States 22-46 

Ore  hearths 23-27 

Smelting  in  reverberatory  furnaces ^  27 

Eeverberatory  furnaces  for  roasting 27,  28 

Mechanical  preroasters 28,  29 

Huntington-Heberlein  pots 29-31 

Continuous  sintering  machines 31-33 

Blast  furnaces 33-37 

Tapping  floors 37-39 

Prevalence  of  lead  fumes  and  dust  on  charge  and  tapping  floors. .  39-41 

Settling  furnaces. -  -  41 

Softening  and  refining  furnaces 41-43 

Drossing,  remelting,  and  desilverizing  kettles 43 

By-product  or  residue  furnaces 43, 44 

Retorting  and  cupelling  furnaces 44-46 

Liquating  furnaces 46 

Flue-dust  system 46-49 

Heat  and  exertion 49,  50 

Relative  dangers  of  breathing  lead  dust  and  of  getting  lead  on  food 50-53 

Analysis  of  dust  -and  fumes 52,  53 

Poisons  other  than  lead  encountered  in  lead  smelting 53,  54 

Lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  industry  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and 

Austria ' 54-57 

3 


4  CONTENTS. 

Lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  and  retining  of  lead — Concluded. 

Lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  industry  in  the  United  States 58-i  Rl 

Historical 58-i 

Number  and  kind  of  cases  found .  - 01-f 

Period  of  exposure  and  attack  rate 64-i 

Relative  danger  of  different  kinds  of  av( irk 66,.  67 

Influence  of  tlie  seasons - i  68 

Method  of  collecting  cases 68h  71 

Medical  supervision 71-j  73 

Sickness  and  accident  insurance 73,  7^ ' 

Oharactei  oi  employees : 75-78i^' 

Housing 78,  7^1 

Oompulsory  registration  of  occupational  plumbism 79-8]L 

Ai'PENDix      I. — The  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  ores  and  of  lead  sulphide  in 

human  gastric  juice 82-S 

ArrKNDix  II.— Regulations  for  the  lead  and  copper  industries,  drafted  by  Lil- 
lian Erskine,  special  investigator  for  the  New  Jersey  Depart- 
ment of  Labor,  approved  by  Ernst  F.  Eurich,  consulting 
metallurgical  expert  for  the  State,  and  issued  in  the  form  of  a 
circular  letter  to  these  trades  by  Lewis  T.  Bryant,  commis- 

fijoner  of  labor 85-87 

Ai  I  ENDix  III. — German  regulations  for  lead-smelting  works  (June  16,  1905). .  88-90 
Apfe.vdix  IV. — French  regulations  relating  to  precautions  against  industrial 

lead  poisoning 91-94 

Appendix     V. — Provisions  for  medical^inspection  and  care  in  English,  German, 

and  French  smelt/rs 96-97 

LIST  OF   PHOTOGRAPHS. 

Facing  page — 

Plate    1. — Sampling  mill 19 

Plate    2. — Ore  hearth  or  Scotch  hearth , 23 

Plate    3. — Ore  hearth  building  in  partial  operation. 24 

Plate    4. — Huntington-Heberlein  pot 29 

Plate    5. — Belt  of  empty  grates  of  a  Dwight-Lloyd  machine 32 

Plate    6. — Feed  floor 34 

Plate    7. — Blast  furnace  during  slag  tapping 37 

Plate    8. — Tapping  floor  of  a  blast  furnace  in  the  American  Smelting  &  Refin- 
ing Co.  's  plant  at  Murray,  Utah - 38 

Plate    9. — Matte  tapping  in  the  American  Smelting  &  Refining  Co.'s  plant 

at  Murray,  Utah 38 

Plate  10. — Tapping  antimonial  slag  from  a  furnace 38 

Plate  ]  1. — Softening  furnace  in  a  refinery,  with  mechanical  charging 42 

Plate  12. — Residue  furnace  or  copper  matting  furnace 44 

Plate  13. — Fabre  du  Faur  zinc  distillation  furnace 44 

Plate  14. — Pouring  the  rich  lead  from  a  retort  into  a  cupelling  furnace 45 

Plate  15. — P^lue  and  bag  house  eystem 46 


BULLETIN  OF  THE 
U.S.  BUREAU  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS. 


WHOLE  NO.  141.  WASHINGTON.  February  17,  1914 

LEAD  POISONINQ  IN  THE  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  OF 

LEAD. 

BY  ALICE    HAMILTON,   M.  A.,    M.  D. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  last  15  or  20  years  have  seen  great  changes  in  the  lead  smelt- 
ing industry  of  the  X'nited  States.  As  transportation  has  improved, 
small  and  poorly  equipped  smelters  ^  which  had  been  built  near  the 
deposits  of  ore  have  been  abandoned  and  the  tendency  has  been  to 
concentrate  the  work  of  smelting  and  refining  in  a  few  large  plants, 
for  it  has  proved  cheaper  to  ship  the  ore  to  large  centers  where  labor 
is  abundant,  than  to  do  the  smelting  in  the  mining  districts. 

This  change  has  resulted  in  a  twofold  advantage  to  the  worker. 
In  the  first  place,  as  these  large  plants  are  usually  equipped  with  the 
latest  and  best  machinery^  the  amount  of  handwork  required  has 
been  materially  diminished.  In  the  second  place,  the  conditions 
under  which  the  employees  work  have  been  improved,  for  large, 
well-built  factories  are  usually  freer  from  dust  and  fumes  than  are 
those  of  the  old  type,  and  newer  methods  of  manufacture  involve 
economies,  such  as  the  saving  of  poisonous  volatile  products  which 
used  to  be  allowed  to  escape  into  the  air.  Along  with  the  improve- 
ment in  equipment,  there  has  been  in  recent  years  evidence  of  a  greater 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  managers  in  the  health  and  safety  of  their 
workmen,  and  there  is  probably  now  no  plant  in  the  United  States 
in  which  some  effort  is  not  made  to  lessen  the  dangers  of  lead  poison- 
ing as  well  as  to  prevent  accidents.  As  a  result  of  these  changes 
in  most  places  where  lead  smelting  is  an  old  industry,  as^  in  south- 
eastern Missouri,  Pueblo,  Denver,  Leadville,  East  Helena,  Omaha, 
and  South  Chicago,  the  opinion  is  general  among  physicians  and 
townspeople,  as  weU  as  among  the  men  in  the  industry,  that  lead 
poisoning  is  far  less  frequent  and  less  severe  than  it  used  to  be.  As 
will  be  seen  later,  it  is  not  possible  to  find  much  documentary  evi- 

'  There  is  much  confusion  in  nomenclature  in  the  literature  of  lead  smelting.  In  this  report  the  Century 
Dictionary  has  been  followed,  which  permits  the  designation  ''smelter''  for  the  place  in  which  the  work 
of  smelting  is  done.  The  term  smelter  is  by  many  people  used  for  the  man  who  does  the  actual  work 
and  by  others  for  the  man  who  is  engaged  in  the  business  of  smelting  lead. 

5 


6  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

donee  of  this  improvement,  yet  the  general  impression  is  probably 
founded  on  fact. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  smelters  and  refineries  that  form  the 
subject  of  this  study: 

American  Smelting  &  Refining  Co.: 

Refinery,  Perth  Amboy,  N.J. 

Refinery,  South  Chicago,  111. 

Smelting  and  refining,  Federal,  III. 

Refinery,  Omaha,  Nebr. 

Smelter,  Pueblo,  Colo. 

Smelter,  Lead\dlle,  Colo. 

Smelter,  Denver,  Colo. 

Smelter,  Murray,  Utah. 

Smelter,  East  Helena,  Mont. 
International  Refining  Co.: 

Refinery,  East  Chicago,  Ind. 

Smelter,  Tooele,  Utah. 
United  States  Refining  Co.: 

Refinery,  Graselli,  Ind. 

Smelter,  Mid  vale,  Utah. 
American  Metals  Co.:  Smelter,  Salida,  Colo. 
St.  Joseph  Lead  Co.:  Smelter  and  refinery,  Herculaneum,  Mo. 
Picher  Lead  Co.:  Smelting,  roasting  oxides,  subliming  white  lead,  Joplin,  Mo. 
National  Lead  Co.:  Smelting,  subliming  white  lead,  Collinsville,  111. 
Hoyt  Metal  Co.:  Smelting  and  refining  scrap  lead.  Granite  City,  III. 
Balbach  Co.:  Smelting  and  refining  scrap  lead,  Newark,  N.  J. 
Goldsmith  Bros.:  Smelting  and  refining  scrap  lead,  Chicago,  111. 

These  20  plants  have  an  average  daily  pay  roll  of  7,500  men.  The 
methods  they  employ  vary  quite  a  little  according  to  the  character 
of  ore  handled,  and  the  difference  in  hygienic  conditions  seems  to 
depend  more  upon  the  different  methods  used  than  upon  different 
standards  in  the  management.  Only  two  plants  were  found  in  which 
neglect  and  indifference  were  conspicuous,  but  no  plant  was  found 
in  which  every  obvious  precaution  had  been  used.  There  is  a  general 
average  of  fairly  good  conditions  and  fairly  active  interest  in  the 
safety  of  the  men,  without  any  strikingly  good  instance  and  with 
few  shockingly  bad  ones.  As  far  as  could  be  determined  in  this 
investigation  the  smelting  and  refiniug  plants  which  have  the  greatest 
incidence  of  lead  poisoning  are  those  in  which  unusually  dangerous 
processes  are  used.  Two  exceptions,  however,  were  found  to  this 
rule,  one  a  smelting  plant  and  the  other  a  refinery,  which,  without 
tising  processes  any  more  dangerous  than  the  others,  have  yet  a 
much  higher  proportion  of  lead  poisoning  because  of  carelessness 
iji  management. 

DANGEROUS  PROCESSES  IN  THE  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  OF  LEAD. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  at  the  outstart  a  very  brief  outline  of  those 
processes  in  lead  smelting  and  refining  which  are  attended  with  more 
or  less  risk  to  the  health  of  the  men  engaged  in  the  industry.    Roughly, 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD.  7 

there  are  three  jjrocesses  or  groups  of  processes  hi  which  dangerous 
conditions  may  be  found:  (1)  The  preparatory  processes,  such  as 
crushing  and  screening  the  ores;  (2)  roasting  and  smelting  processes; 
and  (3)  refining  the  metals  secured  by  smelting.  The  kind,  degree, 
and  sources  of  danger  differ  in  these  different  processes. 

As  a  preliminary  to  all  these  processes  the  ore  must  be  received  and 
unloaded,  an  operation  which  may  be  very  harmful,  reasonably  safe, 
or  anywhere  between  these  extremes,  according  to  the  kind  of  ore 
received  and  the  precautions  observed.  The  danger  of  handling  ore 
depends  chiefly  on  its  dustiness,  but  also  partly  upon  the  chemical 
nature  of  the  ore,  for  some  compounds  of  lead  are  more  soluble  than 
others  in  the  fluids  of  the  body. 

The  ore  of  the  Missouri  and  Illinois  smelters  is -chiefly  sulphide  ore, 
but  farther  west  larger  or  smaller  quantities  of  oxides  and  carbonates 
are  also  smelted,  both  of  which  are  more  soluble  and  poisonous  than  the 
sulphide.  Usually  these  ores  reach  the  plant  in  a  decidedly  moist 
condition,  and  the  work  of  unloading  ore  cars  is  not  at  all  dusty  and 
therefore  involves  but  little  danger. 

After  the  ore  has  been  stored  for  some  time,  it  may  become  very 
dry  and  dusty.  The  mill  in  which  the  ore  is  crushed,  sifted,  and 
mixed  with  other  ingredients  is  almost  without  exception  a  very 
dusty  place,  and  mill  hands  get  lead  poisoning  very  frequently. 
The  danger  here  is  from  dust  and  is  greater  or  less  according  to  the 
chemical  nature  of  the  ore  and  according  to  the  care  exercised  in 
handling  it.  Attached  to  the  crushing  mill  is  the  sampUng  mill  where 
samples  of  ore  are  ground  fine  for  analysis.  This  place  must  be  kept 
clean,  because  if  dust  were  allowed  to  blow  about  no  sample  would  be 
pure.  However,  although  no  accumulations  are  allowed  on  floor  or 
table,  the  small  mills  and  sieves  and  the  iron  plates  (known  as  bucking 
boards)  must  be  cleaned  after  each  sample  and  this  is  done  by  shaking 
and  by  brushing  off  the  dust  with  a  dry  brush.  This  dust  has  been 
ground  as  fine  as  possible  and  sometimes  the  air  of  the  room  is  quite 
cloudy  with  it.  The  sampling  room  is  generally  recognized  as  a 
fairly  dangerous  place  to  work  in. 

The  ground  ore,  more  or  less  dry,  goes  through  many  processes  of 
roasting  and  smelting  which  will  be  described  in  detail  in  the  body  of 
this  report.  In  these  processes  the  risk  to  the  men  comes  from  the 
handling  of  dusty  lead  compounds  and  from  the  fumes  which  escape 
when  lead  or  lead  ores  are  heated.  Melted  lead  is  not  dangerous  as 
long  as  it  is  kept  below  a  dull  red  heat,^  but  at  this  point  fumes  begin 
to  be  formed  and  in  roasting  and  smelting  it  is  raised  to  temperatures 
far  above  this.     The  men  who  transport  the  ore  and  the  roasted 

I  The  exact  point  at  which  lead  fumes  begin  to  form  and  escape  has  been  determined  by  L.  Lewin  (Zeit- 
schrift  fiir  Hygiene  und  Infektionskrankheiten,  1912,  vol.  73,  p.  154)  to  be  between  850°  and  900°  C.  (1,562' 
to  1,652°  F.)  for  pure  lead  and  at  750°  to  800°  C.  (1,382°  to  1,472°  F.)  for  lead  with  as  much  as  5  per  cent 
zinc  in  the  mixture. 


8  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BXTEEAU    OF   LABOB    STATISTICS. 

proilucts  and  who  charge  the  furnaces  are  exposed  to  dust  chiefly 
but  more  or  less  to  fumes  also.  The  men  who  tend  and  discharge 
furnaces  are  exposed  especially  to  fumes. 

In  a  refinery  the  })rocesses  are  essentially  like  those  used  in  smelt- 
ing, for  the  by-products  of  refineries  must  be  smelted  and  so  must  the 
lead  scrap  and  dross  which  is  worked  up  in  many  of  them. 

Throughout  the  process  of  roasting  and  smelting,  fumes  are  evolved 
which  contain  enough  volatile  lead  compounds,  chiefly  oxides  and 
sulphates,  to  make  their  recovery  economical!}^  desirable.  As  a 
consequence  of  this,  an  elaborate  system  is  usually  provided  of  steel 
and  brick  flues,  dust  chambers,  and  bag  houses.  The  flue  dust  which 
collects  is  very  fine  and  powdery  and  rich  in  soluble  lead  salts,  and 
if  the  ore  smelted  contains  arsenic  this  also  is  found  in  the  flue  diist. 
Flues  must  be  cleaned  out  at  intervals,  sometimes  once  a  month, 
sometimes  only  once  a  jear.  The  bag  house  contains  long  bags  of 
wool  or  cotton  suspended  from  the  roof  and  fastened  over  holes  in 
the  floor.  The  Hghtest  of  the  flue  dust  passes  into  the  tops  of  these 
bags,  being  drawn  in  by  suction,  and  is  deposited  there.  Then  the 
bags  must  be  shaken  at  least  once  daily  to  make  the  dust  fall.  In 
some  plants  men  are  obliged  to  go  in  every  day  and  shake  them  by 
hand,  in  others  they  simply  work  a  handle  from  outside  which  does 
tlie  same  thing  mechanicaUy.  In  two  plants  the  air  current  is 
reversed  and  a  vacuum  created,  which  makes  the  bags  collapse  and 
shakes  the  dust  into  the  dust  chamber  below.  This  dust  chamber 
.  also  must  be  cleaned  out  at  intervals.  Flue  dust  is  very  dangerous  to 
handle,  especially  in  those  plants  which  smelt  ore  containing  large 
quantities  of  arsenic. 

Always  the  flue  and  bag-house  work  is  regarded  as  about  the  most 
dangerous  in  the  plant  and  always  some  effort  is  made  to  protect  the 
men  doing  it,  but  the  degree  of  effort  made  varies  widely.  In  some 
plants  care,  the  lavish  use  of  water,  and  the  introduction  of  mechan- 
ical devices  have  done  a  great  deal  to  lessen  the  danger  of  the  work, 
but  there  are  others  in  which  the  manager  seems  content  to  admit 
that  it  is  a  bad  job  and  to  rush  it  through  as  fast  as  possible,  employ- 
ing his  least  useful  men  on  the  work.  One  of  these  managers  stated 
in  confidence  that  his  annual  flue  cleaning  in  January,  1913,  resulted 
in  the  poisoning  of  40  men.  His  whole  regular  force  in  the  smelter 
numbers  only  350  men. 

There  are  several  processes  in  smelting  and  refining  which  are 
attended  with  little  if  any  risk  to  health,  provided  ordinary  cleanliness 
is  observed  and  provided  the  w^ork  is  not  carried  on  in  close  proximity 
to  fumes  and  dust  from  other  processes.  Therefore  a  well-managed 
plant  will  have  several  fairly  safe  dey)artments  and  the  dangerous 
<lej)artments  will  be  strictly  supervised  and  the  men  carefully  watched. 
In  a  carel(;ssly  managed  plant  all  departments  may  be  dangerous  to 
work  in. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN   SMELTING   AND  REFINING   LEAD.  9 

DUST  AND  FUMES. 

Most  of  the  ])lants  visit otl  ar(i  fairly  new  and  some  are  of  very  recent 
construction.  The  buildings  of  the  more  modern  ones  are  large  and 
liigh,  well  suppHed  with  natural  ventilation,  if  indeed  they  are  not 
too  open,  and  with  ample  space  so  that  there  is  no  crowding.  The 
introduction  of  machinery  to  take  the  place  of  hand  labor  is  general, 
and  there  is  an  increasing  effort  to  save  the  lead  fumes,  which,  when 
they  are  allowed  to  escape  into  the  air,  are  the  most  potent  cause 
of  lead  poisoning  among  the  workmen.  Even  in  the  old  plants, 
dark  and  crowded  and  dirty  as  they  are,  there  is  some  evidence  of 
recent  improvements,  and  in  some  instances  the  old  plant  is  being 
abandoned  for  one  of  modern  construction.  On  the  whole,  it  is 
certainly  true  that  conditions  are  continually  improving  in  this 
industry.  However,  there  is  not  one  plant  in  which  no  fumes  are 
allowed  to  escape,  not  one  in  which  there  is  a  complete  system  of 
hoods  and  exhaust  ventilation.  Nor  is  there  one  plant  which  is  kept 
as  free  from  dust  as  it  might  be.  The  majority  have  at  least  one  or 
two  inexcusably  dusty  departments  and  some  plants  have  hardly  a 
single  clean  place.  In  both  these  respects,  fume  prevention  and  dust 
prevention,  American  smelting  plants  leave  much  to  be  desired.  Yet 
it  is  dust  and  fume  that  are  responsible  for  the  great  majority  of  cases 
of  industrial  plumbism,  and  their  control  should  be  a  simple  matter 
compared  to  the  comphcated  engineering  problems  which  have  been 
successfully  solved  by  smelting  experts. 

In  a  refinery  there  are  special  dangers  which  are  not  encountered 
in  a  smelter,  and  which  come  from  the  nature  of  the  material  worked 
up  in  a  refinery.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  clean  bulUon  from  a 
smelter,  and  that,  of  course,  is  safe  enough  to  handle,  but  many 
refineries  work  up,  aside  from  the  bullion,  quantities  of  scrap  lead 
and  some  work  up  nothing  else.  This  stuff  is  handled  much  more 
carelessly  than  ore  or  concentrates,  and  as  a  usual  thing  such  a 
refinery  is  a  very  dirty  place,  the  most  dangerous  and  dusty  materials 
being  shoveled  and  dumped  without  the  least  precaution.  The  mere 
fact  that  smelting  is  not  done  on  so  large  a  scale  seems  in  the  smaller 
refineries  to  lead  to  carelessness  in  the  matter  of  fumes  as  well  as  of 
dust,  and  the  only  smelting  furnaces  found  with  absolutely  no  pro- 
vision for  protection  against  fumes  were  in  refineries. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  in  addition  to  the  evils  of  dust  and 
fume,  men  working  in  lead  smelters  and  refineries  are  subject  to 
extreme  heat  and  to  rapid  changes  of  temperature,  while  at  the  same 
time  their  work  calls  for  great  physical  exertion.  This  is  not  true  of 
all  the  men  employed,  but  it  is  true  of  a  far  larger  proportion  than  is 
the  case  in  such  industries  as  the  making  of  white  lead,  the  glazing  of 
pottery  and  tiles,  or  the  painter's  trade.  Smelting  resembles  more 
closely  the  enameling  of  sanitary  ironware,  for  there  also  the  men 


10  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

are  exposed  to  lead-laden  dust,  to  great  heat,  and  great  exertion.  It 
is  worth  noticing  that  among  these  enamelers  the  incidence  of  lead 
poisoning  was  found  to  be  about  21  per  hundred.  In  smelting,  all 
the  furnace  men  and  their  helpers  are  exposed  to  great  heat  and  to 
rapid  cooling  off.  As  to  overexertion,  Sommerfeld  ^  says  that  physi- 
cal overstrain  is  a  decided  factor  in  smelting  work,  especially  in 
unloading  ore,  transporting  ore,  charging  furnaces,  breaking  up 
roasted  ore,  repairing  and  cleaning  furnaces,  loading  bullion  on  cars, 
etc.  Not  only  the  arms,  but  the  muscles  of  the  back  and  shoulders 
are  used  to  their  utmost.  Physical  fatigue  is  one  of  the  predisposing 
causes  to  plumbism. 

The  managers  and  superintendents  of  these  smelters  and  refineries 
appreciate  the  danger  of  lead  dust  and  fumes.  Indeed,  there  is  a  much 
more  intelUgent  attitude  toward  the  hygienic  problems  of  this  industry 
among  the  men  in  charge  than  is  found  in  some  of  the  lead  industries, 
but  there  is  too  much  insistence  upon  the  responsibihty  of  the  work- 
man for  his  personal  cleanliness  and  too  little  on  the  responsibility  of 
the  management  for  the  conditions  under  which  the  man.  works.  As 
we  shall  see  further  on,  bodily  cleanliness  is  not  nearly  so  important 
an  item  in  the  prevention  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  industry 
as  it  is  in  the  white-lead  industry,  or  in  the  making  of  red  lead  or 
storage  batteries,  or  in  pottery  glazing,  where  the  men  handle  and  are 
smeared  with  soluble  lead  salts.  Hand  and  face  washing  and  bathing 
are  absolutely  essential  in  those  industries  to  prevent  the  men  carrying 
large  quantities  of  poisonous  lead  into  their  mouths  with  food  or 
tobacco,  but  the  amount  of  soluble  lead  that  chngs  to  the  smelter- 
man's  hands  is  relatively  small.  In  this  trade,  as  in  sanitary-ware 
enamehng,  it  is  dust  that  is  the  dangerous  element,  and  under  dust  is 
included  the  excessively  fine  suspension  of  poisonous  lead  salts  which 
make  up  the  fumes  from  heated  lead  and  lead  ores.  If  all  the  lead 
which  sticks  to  the  hands  and  face  and  body  of  a  smelter  employee 
at  the  end  of  his  day's  work  should  in  some  way  reach  his  mouth  and 
be  swallowed — practically,  of  course,  this  could  not  occur — it  would 
not  equal  in  amount  what  he  breathes  in  if  he  is  working  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  lead  fumes. 2 

In  spite  of  the  admitted  danger  from  dust  and  fumes,  foremen  and 
physicians  often  explain  the  frequency  of  lead  poisoning  in  a  smelting 
plant  on  the  ground  of  the  men's  carelessness  in  washing,  and  one 
often  hears  them  say  that  if  a  man  does  not  use  a  nailbrush  when  he 
washes  his  hands  the  lead  which  has  gotten  in  under  his  nails  will 
poison  the  food  he  handles.  Now,  it  is  certainly  difficult  to  see  how 
such  a  thing  could  take  place,  or  how  even  with  the  greatest  careless- 
ness the  lead  on  the  back  of  the  man's  hands  could  possibly  poison  his 
food.     This  does  not  mean  that  eating  food  with  unwashed  hands 

'  Lpymann's  Bekampfung  der  Bleigefahr  In  der  Industrie,  p.  40.    Jena,  1908. 
» See  p.  51. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  11 

should  be  permitted.  It  is  of  course  dangerous,  yet  curiously  enougli 
the  superintendents  and  physicians  who  insist  most  upon  this  danger 
are  the  ones  who  have  provided  practically  no  washing  facilities  for 
their  workmen. 

SANITARY  EQUIPMENT. 

Compared  with  the  prevention  of  dust  and  fume,  the  provision  in 
this  industry  of  good  wash  rooms,  shower  baths,  and  lunch  rooms  is 
of  minor  importance,  but  it  is  important  enough  to  make  it  a  matter 
for  surprise  when  we  find  that  out  of  these  20  plants  only  8  had  at  the 
time  of  this  inspection  an  equipment  which  was  at  all  adequate  and 
that  3  of  these  are  in  Illinois  where  the  law  requires  it.  A  striking 
instance  of  carelessness  is  the  keeping  of  drinking  water  in  open 
buckets,  which,  although  an  obviously  dangerous  practice,  is  not 
uncommon. 

MEDICAL  CARE. 

All  of  the  plants  covered  in  this  study  employ  physicians  to  attend 
cases  of  iUness  as  well  as  of  accidental  injuries  among  the  men. 
The  service  rendered  by  these  physicians  may  be  classed  as  good  in 
the  majority  of  cases;  indifferent  in  some  instances;  poor  in  a  few. 
The  insurance  system,  by  which  the  worker  secures  the  right  to 
medical  treatment,  varies  somewhat  in  the  different  plants;  but, 
except  in  two  cases,  the  doctor  is  always  chosen  and  appointed  by  the 
management  and  holds  his  position  at  its  pleasure.  In  the  two 
exceptional  places,  the  men  have  a  voice  in  deciding  whether  or  not 
the  physician  is  rendering  good  service  and  whether  or  not  he  shall 
continue  to  serve;  but  in  15  plants,  though  the  physician  is  paid 
wholly  or  in  greater  part  through  sums  deducted  from  their  wages, 
they  have  no  share  in  either  his  selection  or  retention.  The  plants  in 
Illinois  bear  all  the  expense  of  medical  and  hospital  care  and  do  not 
charge  the  men  anything.     This  is  in  accordance  with  the  Illinois  law. 

The  details  of  the  insurance  systems  followed  in  different  plants 
are  given  later.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  with  a  very  few 
exceptions  the  expenses  of  sickness  and  accident  are  borne  in  large 
part,  if  not  entirely,  by  the  workmen,  who  have,  however,  no  voice  in 
saying  how  the  money  shall  be  expended  and  no  means  of  redress  if 
the  medical  care  furnished  is  insufficient  or  indeed  worthless. 

DISADVANTAGES  OF  A  SHIFTING  FORCE. 

The  men  employed  in  this  industry  are  for  the  most  part  of  foreign 
birth,  with  a  varying  proportion  of  American  born,  who  usually  hold 
the  more  highly  skilled  positions.  The  work  is  for  the  most  part 
unskilled  or  at  the  most  semiskilled. 

It  is  a  shifting  class  of  labor  everywhere,  excessively  so  m  New 
Jersey,  perhaps  a  little  better  m  the  Middle  West,  and  still  better  in 


12  BI'LLETIX    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

tlie  West,  but  unsatisfactorv  evervwliere.  A  certahi  amount  of 
seasonal  shifting  is  probably  good  for  the  men.  In  the  epring,  large 
nimibers  of  them  leave  the  smelter  to  take  work  on  farms  or  beet  fields 
or  in  railway  constniction  and  road  work,  coming  back  after  four  or 
five  mojiths  decidedly  benefited  by  this  change  to  healthful  outdoor 
work.  Still  it  remains  true  on  the  whole  that  the  more  shifting  the 
force,  the  greater  the  amount  of  lead  poisoning.  A  new  lot  of  men 
means  a  certain  proportion  of  oversusceptible  ones  who  can  not  be 
weeded  out  until  thej  have  demonstrated  their  susceptibility  by  an 
attack  of  acute  poisoning.  It  also  means  awkward,  bungling  work, 
which  results  in  the  clogging  of  flues,  the  escape  of  fumes  from  im- 
properly managed  exhausts,  mjury  to  furnaces  requiring  repaks — m 
short .  danger  to  f  eUow  workmen  as  well  as  to  the  man  himself.  Repair 
work  in  a  lead  smelter  is  always  dangerous  because  it  always  involves 
dust,  and  the  more  the  force  shifts  the  more  repairs  are  needed. 
Then,  too,  it  is  impossible  to  expect  that  a  foreman  wiU  take  miich 
pains  in  teachmg  his  men  how  to  avoid  the  dangers  of  the  work  if  he 
has  to  instruct  a  fresh  gang  every  month. 

Lead  smeltmg  in  the  United  States  has  one  good  feature  not  found  in 
the  industry  in  foreign  countries:  It  does  not  employ  boys  or  very 
3"oung  men.  In  Austria  and  German}^,  it  is  evident  that  men  under 
20  are  frequently  emploj'ed  in  such  work.  Thus,  in  the  model 
German  smelting  plant,  the  Friedrichshtitte  (together  with  the  Walter 
Croneckhiitte)  in  1911  there  were  132  men  under  the  age  of  20  out  of  a 
force  of  803. 

It  is  not  hard  to  see  why  liabor  shifts  so  much  m  this  mdustry  for 
the  wages  paid  are  low,^  the  work  is  heavy  and  dangerous  to  health, 
tlie  heat  exhausting,  and  the  sulphur  fiunes  very  disagreeable.  Hours 
are  not  excessive.  Three  shifts  of  eight  hours  each  are  the  rule  every- 
Avhere  except  in  and  near  Chicago,  and  contract  work  makes  possible 
an  even  shorter  day  for  men  engaged  in  certain  tasks.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  seven-day  week  is  universal. 

PREVALENCE  OF  LEAD  POISONING  IN  THE  INDUSTRY. 

There  are  no  sources  from  Avhich  can  be  gathered  fidl  data  as  to  the 
prevalence  of  lead  poisoning  in  this  industry  and  though  an  effort  was 
made  to  ascertain  the  facts  from  hospital  records  and  from  interviews 
with  physicians,  druggists,  priests,  and  workmen  and  their  relatives, 
it  has  been  mipossible  to  get  more  than  a  partial  estimate  of  the  nimi- 
ber  of  smelter  emploj'ees  who  fall  A-ictims  to  industrial  plumbism  every 
year.  Ph3'sicians  can  rarely  give  actual  lists  of  cases,  and  it  is  unsafe 
to  accept  general  statements  as  to  the  number  of  cases  seen  J^early  by 
them,  because  some  of  the  men  might  have  visited  more  than  one  phy- 
sician, and  in  the  end,  liave  gone  to  a  iKJspital,  so  that  the  same  case 

>  See  p.  7C. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  13 

might  be  counted  mcn-e  than  onco.  Tho  list  lias  therefore  been  linw 
it-ed  to  individual  cases  gathered  from  hospital  records,  from  the  writ- 
ten notes  of  doctors,  and  from  the  statements  of  the  men  themselves. 

From  these  sources  1,769  cases  of  lead  poisoning  were  found  that 
had  occurred  in  10  lead  smelting  and  refining  plants  durJng  the  year 
1 912.  The  twentieth,  a  newly  erected  refinery,  had  not  been  in  opera- 
tion long  enough  for  cases  of  poisoning  to  develop  among  its  100 
men.  These  19  factories  employ  about  7,400  men,  that  is,  7,400 
represents  the  sum  of  their  average  daily  pay  rolls.  It  does  not 
represent  the  actiuil  number  of  men  who  have  entered  and  left^  or 
still  remain  in  the  employ  of  these  19  plants. 

The  cases  of  lead  poisoning  were  secured  from  the  following  sources: 
Hospitals,  347;  physicians'  records,  1,320;  reported  by  laymen,  102. 
If  it  is  considered  safer  to  exclude  those  which  came  from  non- 
medical sources,  Ave  shall  have  1,667  cases  among  7,400  men,  or  a 
little  more  than  22  for  every  100  employed.  The  hospital  cases  alo.ne 
give  a  rate  of  almost  5  in  100  employed,  which,  is  larger  than  the 
rate  in  Great  Britain  for  all  cases,^  but  these  347  men  from  the 
liospital  records  belong  to  only  9  of  the  19  plants.  The  other  10 
plants  furnished  no  hospital  records  at  all. 

It  may  be  objected  here  that  the  statement  above  as  to  the  large 
numbers  of  men  who  pass  in  and  out  of  the  trade  every  year  shows 
that  many  more  than  7,500  were  employed  in  the  lead  smelting  in 
1912.  This  is  true,  but  it  is  obvious  that  it  would  be  unfair  to  count 
all  the  men  who  enter  and  leave  the  industry,  no  matter  how  short 
their  stay.  An  experience  of  a  few  days  should  not  count  in  the 
same  way  as  an  experience  of  months.  Were  we  to  attempt  such  an 
estimate  as  that,  a  badly-managed  plant  with  men  coming  and  going 
might  show  a  lower  rate  of  lead  poisoning  than  a  well-managed  plant 
with  a  steady  force. 

Moreover,  it  is  also  true  that  1,769  does  not  nearly  represent  the 
full  number  of  cases  of  lead  poisoning  that  occurred  in  1912.  Only  2 
of  the  20  plants  have  a  full  medical  record  to  show;  in  others  the 
record  was  only  partially  complete,  in  still  others  only  the  scantiest 
information  was  available,  and  in  4  plants  no  information  at  alL could 
be  obtained.  To  take  a  few  instances:  1  smelter  employing  275  men 
and  another  employing  250  men  had  records  of  the  hospital  cases  only. 
Naturally,  many  sick  men  prefer  not  to  go  to  the  hospital,  especially 
if  they  are  married  and  have  their  own  homes.  In  another  case — a 
large  refinery  employing  650  men — the  physician  refused  to  give  any 
information  or  to  allow  inspection  of  the  records  of  the  hospital  to 
which  the  company  sends  its  sick  workmen.  All  that  could  be  learned 
of  the  situation  was  gained  from  the  records  of  two  outside  physicians, 
who  had  seen  some  120  cases  in  the  course  of  the  year.     It  is  evident 

1  See  p.  .04. 


14  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

that  tliis  was  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  men  actually  poisoned, 
for  all  the  workers  were  paying  $1  a  month  to  the  company's  sickness 
insurance  fund,  and  the  greatest  number  of  them  would  certainly  go 
to  the  doctor  for  whose  services  they  had  already  paid. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  Illinois  smelters  would  have  furnished 
full  and  satisfactory  reports,  since  the  law  requiring  a  monthly 
medical  inspection  of  all  employees  and  a  report  of  the  cases  of  lead 
poisoning  to  the  chief  factory  inspector's  office  went  into  effect  more 
than  two  years  ago.  As  will  be  seen  later,  however,  this  source  of 
information  has  failed  completely  in  the  case  of  the  three  largest 
Illinois  plants,  owing  to  an  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  doctors  to 
send  in  full  reports. 

Considering  how  little  information  it  was  possible  to  obtain  in  many 
of  the  plants,  it  does  not  seem  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  num- 
ber of  cases  found  falls  far  below  the  truth,  and  that  the  record  for  the 
smelting  industry  in  the  United  States  for  one  year  is  at  least  1.657 
(or  1,769)  men  poisoned  among  7,400  employed. 

PREVENTION  OF  LEAD  POISONING  IN  THE  SMELTING  INDUSTRY. 

The  statistics  of  the  British  factory-inspection  office  and  those  from 
one  or  two  plants  in  Germany  and  Austria  show  that  lead  smelting 
can  be  carried  on  without  as  much  danger  to  health  as  exists  at 
present  in  American  smelting  plants.  To  understand  where  the  fault 
lies,  one  must  study  the  methods  used  in  the  United  States  and  see 
where  the  avoidable  dangers  are  to  be  found.  An  admirable  standard 
for  the  sanitary  conduct  of  this  industry  may  be  found  in  the  work  of 
the  late  Richard  Miiller/  which  was  published  in  1908  and  awarded  a 
prize  by  the  International  Association  for  Labor  Legislation.  Mtiller 
was  not  a  physician,  but  an  engineer,  who  had  nineteen  years'  expe- 
rience in  the  management  of  a  large  smelting  and  refining  works,  the 
Emser  Blei  und  wSilberhiitten .  He  speaks,  therefore,  not  as  a  theorist, 
but  as  a  man  who  has  tried  out  the  measures  he  advocates.  He  has 
learned  b}"  experiment  where  the  dangers  in  this  industry  Ue,  and  how 
they  can  be  controlled  without  detriment  to  the  practical  working  of 
the  plant  and  without  increasing  the  cost  of  the  output. 

Miiller  emphasizes  the  danger  from  dust  in  transporting,  grinding, 
and  sifting  leady  substances,  charging  furnaces,  repairing,  sweeping, 
cleaning  out  flues,  etc.,  and  the  danger  from  fumes  whenever  lead  is 
njelted.  "Every  shop  superintendent  should  look  upon  any  quan- 
tity of  lead  dust  or  fume  as  potentially  dangerous,  and  should  rather 
run  the  risk  of  doing  too  much  to  guard  against  it  than  of  doing  too 
little."  He  holds  the  management  almost  entirely  responsible,  for 
though  most  workmen  are  careless  and  disobedient,  their  carelessness 

1  Die  Bekampfung  der  Bleigefahr  in  Bleihiit.ten.    Rich.  Miiller,  Jena,  1908. 


LEAD  POrSONIXG  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  15 

and  disobedience  can  give  rise  only  to  occasional  cases  of  lead  poi- 
soning. If  a  plant  has  repeated  trouble,  a  continual  succession  of 
cases  of  lead  poisoning,  then  it  is  the  surroundings  under  which  the 
men  work  that  are  at  fault. 

According  to  Miiller,  a  smelter  or  refinery  can  be  made  so  free  from 
poisonous  lead  that  only  the  oversusceptible  will  run  the  risk  of  be- 
coming poisoned.  The  two  essentials  in  such  a  plant  are  cleanliness 
and  forced  ventilation.  These  are  the  principles  of  construction  and 
maintenance  that  he  lays  down. 

CONSTRUCTION. 

The  character  of  the  building  has  an  influence  on  the  conduct  of 
the  men,  for  dark,  low-ceiled  rooms  do  not  inspire  ideas  of  cleanliness. 
The  buildings  must  be  very  roomy,  light,  well  ventilated,  the  walls 
clean,  and  the  floors  smooth  and  hard.  The  walls  should  be  white- 
washed*at  short  intervals,  partly  for  the  effect  on  the  men,  partly 
because  that  is  much  the  safest  way  of  getting  rid  of  the  dust.  As  to 
ventilation,  it  must  be  ample,  but  one  must  not  depend  on  windows 
and  doorways  to  carry  off  fumes.  On  the  contrary,  a  too  open  con- 
struction admits  wind  and  drafts  which  disturb  the  exhaust  system. 
Flues  will  work  well  only  when  the  air  inside  is  warm,  and  they  are 
incapacitated  by  drafts  of  cold  air.  A  plant  with  very  open  con- 
struction may  have  more  fumes  and  dust  than  one  which  is  better 
inclosed. 

SANITARY  EQUIPMENT. 

Proper  washing  facihties,  including  warm  water,  soap,  and  towels, 
as  well  as  a  clean  lunch  room,  should  be  provided  for  the  men  and 
their  use  made  obHgatory,  but  MiiUer  beheves  that  ordinary  soap 
and  the  usual  methods  of  hand  and  face  washing  are  quite  suflB-cient, 
and  that  it  is  foohsh  to  insist  on  elaborate  scrubbing  and  the  removal 
of  the  last  particle  of  dust  deep  in  the  folds  of  the  skin.  Lead  which 
will  not  come  off  by  ordinary  washing  with  soap  wiU  hardly  poison 
the  man's  food  no  matter  how  he  handles  it,  and  "personal  cleanliness 
on  the  part  of  the  workmen  is  not  nearly  as  important  as  cleanliness 
of  the  shop."  He  has  seen  plants  with  fine  bathhouses  and  model 
workmen's  homes  which  had  failed  to  reduce  their  rate  of  industrial 
plumbism  because  dust  and  fumes  still  persisted  in  the  works. 

The  lunch  boxes  brought  to  the  works  should  be  kept  in  the  lunch 
room,  though  this  is  hardly  a  matter  of  real  importance.  Far  more 
important  is  it  to  see  that  the  drinking  water  is  not  kept  in  open  pails. 
Bathing  facihties  are  desirable,  chiefly  because  they  train  the  men  in 
habits  of  bodily  cleanliness.  MiiUer  thinks  that  only  insignificant 
quantities  of  dust  chng  to  the  bodies  of  men  employed  in  a  well- 
managed  smelter,  and  that  two  baths  a  week  are  quite  enough.  For 
flue  dust  men,  however,  daily  baths  should  be  compulsory. 


16  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUEEAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

DrST  PREVENTION. 

Dust  must  ]>e  prevented  L}'  dampness,  by  sprinkling;  there  is  i.o 
other  possible  way.  Wliere  material  can  not  be  handled  wet,  exhaust 
ventilation  must  be  installed,  but  such  work  must  always  be  regarded 
us  dangerous  and  must  be  carefully  supervised;  only  strong  and  well- 
tested  men  should  be  employed  there.  But  in  almost  every  part  of 
the  work  dusty  products  can  and  should  be  dampened,  and  for  this 
purpose  an  abundant  and  easily  managed  water  supply  is  essential. 
Floors  sliould  be  sprinkled  so  often  that  they  will  be  always  a  httle 
damp  and  dry  sweeping  should  be  absolutely  forbidden. 

PREVENTION  OF  FUMES. 

All  fumes  should  be  carried  off  by  exhaust  ventilation,  for  the  least 
escape  of  fumes  is  dangerous,  and  natural  ventilation  is  too  variable 
and  uncertain.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  no  exhaust 
system  will  render  safe  a  furnace  which  is  always  getting  out  of  order. 

Neither  against  dust  nor  against  fumes  can  one  trust  to  the  pro- 
t-ection  of  respirators.  Anyone  who  has  ever  worked  w^ith  filters  and 
has  tried  to  drive  air  through  and  keep  dust  back  knows  how  thick  a 
filter  and  how  strong  a  force  is  required.  It  is  impossible  for  a  work- 
man to  get  enough  air  through  a  reaUy  effective  dust  filtering  respi- 
rator. Like  the  British  factory  inspection  department,  Miiller  prefers 
to  a  respirator  a  simple  muslin  bag  tied  over  the  mouth  and  nose  and 
washed  daily. 

CONTROL  OF  THE  WORKMEN. 

Discipline  should  be  inflexible;  half-hearted  cooperation  on  the 
part  of  foremen  is  fatal  to  any  system.;  All  protective  devices  should 
be  so  arranged  that  the  men  will  have  more  trouble  in  getting  them 
out  of  the  way  than  in  using  them,  for  it  is  impossible  to  make  the 
whole  force  reasonably  careful.  Every  increase  in  the  force  or  change 
in  the  personnel  increases  the  danger  of  lead  poisoning,  for  new  men 
may  prove  oversusceptible  and  may  sicken  under  conditions  not 
dangerous  to  ordinary  men.  Emergencies  and  accidents  are  frequent 
in  lead  smelting  and  always  involve  risk,  but  with  a  healthy  lot  of 
men  a  certain  amount  of  risk  can  be  encountered  without  harm,  while 
if  there  are  oversusceptible  men  they  will  succumb.  No  man  who 
has  been  once  leaded  should  be  employed  in  the  worst  kinds  of  work. 

MEDICAL  SUPERVISION. 

Like  most  practical  men,  MiiUer  does  not  rate  very  high  the  advice 
which  is  given  l)y  medical  experts.  He  advises  superintendents  to 
do  tlieir  own  inspecting  and  to  insist  on  a  report  from  the  foreman  as 
to  pallor  and  loss  of  appetite  among  the  men.  Two  very  thorough 
medical  inspections  in  a  year  would,  he  believes,  be  of  more  value 
than  12  superficial  monthly  examinations. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  17 

To  sum  up,  the  prevention  of  lead  poisoning  is  in  tlie  liands  of  the 
superintendent.  "The  workmen  can  be  blamed  only  after  all  that 
is  possible  in  the  way  of  cleanliness  has  been  carried  out  in  the  plant. "  ^ 

PROCESSES   USED   IN    LEAD    SMELTING   AND    REFINING    IN 
THE  UNITED  STATES. 

HANDLING  THE  ORE. 

Lead  ore  from  the  mines  must  be  first  cnished  and  screened  to  the 
proper  size  for  roasting  and  smelting.  Sometimes  this  is  done  at 
the  mine  and  the  ore  which  comes  to  the  smelter  is  in  the  form  of 
concentrates,  chemically  unchanged  but  in  shape  for  roasting  or 
smelting.  In  the  Western  States  the  grinding  is  done  at  the  smelter. 
The  ores  from  these  States  contain  lead  sulphide,  sulphate,  oxides 
and  carbonate.  Missouri  ore  is  almost  all  sulphide,  galena,  though 
it  is  doubtful  if  a,ny  smeltmg  plant,  even  those  in  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  handles  exclusivel}^  sulphide  ore.  There  is  almost  invariably 
some  so-called  "scrap"  smelted  also  and  in  some  smelters  and  in 
ahiiost  all  refineries  scrap  is  a  ver}^  important  element.  This  scrap 
is  lead  refuse  of  all  kinds  and  dangerous  to  handle,  the  danger  in- 
creasing in  proportion  to  the  dustiness. 

The  sulphide  of  lead  has  been  generally  held  by  physiologists  to 
be  quite  msoluble  in  the  human  body  and  therefor©  free  from  poison- 
ous effects.  It  has  been  stated  to  be  the  one  compound  of  lead 
which  has  no  effect  when  taken  into  the  stomach.  Practical  smelt- 
ing experts,  however,  receive  this  statement  with  some  skepticism. 
Miiller  reports  a  case  of  lead  poisoning  in  a  man  who  had  been  exposed 
to  sidphide  ore  only,  and  experts  in  this  country  state  that  they 
have  had  no  reason  to  believe  this  ore  hanuless,  though  long  ex- 
posure is  usually  necessary  before  poisoning  takes  place.  Our  belief 
in  the  harmlessness  of  galena  was  shaken  when  it  was  discovered 
that  during  the  year  1912,  25  cases  of  lead  poisoning  had  been 
treated  m  the  Alexian  Brothers  hospital  in  St.  Louis  and  that  the 
j  men,  aU  foreigners,  had  come  from  the  lead  belt  of  southeastern 
I  Missouri,  from  Desloge  chiefly,  though  a  few  came  from  Bonne 
Terre  and  Flat  River.  There  is  but  one  smaU  smelter  at  Desloge, 
none  in  the  other  places.  An  investigator  sent  to  the  spot  reported 
that  though  he  could  not  trace  the  individual  cases,  inasmuch  as 
about  1,000  foreigners  are  employed  in  the  mines  of  the  Desloge  dis- 
trict, he  was  able  to  make  sure  that  none  of  them  had  been  employed 
in  the  smelter,  for  the  workmen  there  were  all  Americans  and  knew 
each  other.     Bonne  Terre  and  Flat  River  have  concentrating  mills 


1  For  regulations  adopted  in  0  ermany  and  France  for  the  control  of  the  lead-smelting  industry  see  Appen- 
dixe-s  III  and  IV,  pp.  88  to  94. 

31080°— Bull.  141—14 2 


18  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUREAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS. 

but  no  smelting.  These  25  cases  of  lead  poisoning  were  serious 
enough  to  require  hospital  care  and  among  them  was  1  case  of 
palsy  and  1  of  lead  psj^chosis. 

It  was  evident,  then,  that  the  lead  poisoning  had  been  contracted 
in  the  course  of  work  in  mines  or  concentratmg  mills  where  sulphide 
ore  only  is  handled,  and  it  was  evident  also  that  a  long  exposure  is 
not  always  necessary,  for  these  men  were  not  a  permanent  body  of 
employees  but  migratory,  not  staying  long  enough  to  be  really  known 
in  the  community. 

To  clear  up  this  question  of  the  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  it  was 
suggested  to  Dr.  Carlson  and  Dr.  Woelfel,  of  the  Physiological  De- 
partment of  the  University  of  Chicago,  that  they  subject  these  ores 
to  laboratory  tests,  using  for  the  purpose  human  gastric  juice  which 
they  were  able  to  procure  from  a  case  of  gastric  fistula.  Similar 
experiments  on  the  solubility  of  the  basic  carbonate  and  the  basic 
sulphate  of  lead  had  already  been  made  by  these  investigators  and 
are  reported  in  Bulletin  No.  120  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, 
pages  22  to  32. 

The  account  of  their  experiments  is  given  in  the  appendix.^  It 
will  be  enough  to  state  here  that  they  showed  the  sulphide  in  galena 
ores  to  be  soluble  in  the  human  gastric  juice  and  therefore  poisonous. 
To  the  objection  that  the  lead  in  the  ore  may  not  all  have  been  in 
the  form  of  sulphide  we  may  point  to  their  report  on  the  solubility 
of  chemically  pure  lead  sulphide,  which  they  found  to  be  even  greater. 
This  is  in  accord  with  the  experience  of  Etz,^  who  found  precipitated 
lead  sulphide  more  soluble  than  galena. 

In  a  plant  where  the  ore  concentrates  arrive  in  the  cars  in  a  damp 
condition,  as  is  almost  always  the  case,  the  work  of  the  unloaduig 
gang  is  free  from  risk.  It  is  later  on,  after  the  ore  has  been  stored 
for  some  time,  that  it  may  have  grown  dry  and  dusty  and  a  good 
deal  of  trouble  may  come  if  it  is  shoveled  and  dumped  without 
sprinkling  down  the  dust.  -  In  one  smelter  where  this  is  done  six 
men  went  to  the  doctor  with  lead  poisoning  within  two  months,  all 
of  them  havmg  been  engaged  in  handling  ore. 

j\Iuch  worse  than  in  any  smelter  is  the  condition  in  the  corre- 
sponding department  in  a  refinery,  for  all  refineries  handle  more  or 
less  dross  and  scrap  and  some  of  them  make  a  specialty  of  just  this 
sort  of  work.  This  means  that  the  storage  bins  are  filled  with  very 
poisonous  lead  refuse,  white  lead  and  red  lead,  the  dusty  fragments 
of  old  storage  batteries  and  dusty  dross  skimmings,  material  which 
is  dangerous  to  unload,  to  transport,  to  mix,  and  to  charge  into 
furnaces.  Four  of  the  older  refineries  have  stuff  of  this  sort  piled 
up  all  over  the  place,  so  that  hardly  one  room  is  clean  and  safe. 


1  See  Appendix  I,  p.  82  to  84. 

^Leymann,  liekiiinpfung  der  Bleigefahr  in  der  Industrie,  p.  4,  Jena,  1908. 


B.n  =  tii  No.  141— Labor 


PLATE  1.— SAMPLING    MILL. 


The  ground  ore  comes  down  this  chute  and  falls  into  the  hopper.  There  is  no  protection 
against  the  dust  which  flies  everywhere,  falling  on  the  belts  and  being  scattered 
through  the  room. 


LEAD  POISOXIISTG  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  19 

CRUSHING  AND  SAMPLING  MILLS. 

These  are  almost  always  poorly  constructed  buildings  with  old, 
rough,  dirty  wooden  floors,  with  accumulations  of  ground  ore  m  the 
corners  or  sometimes  covermg  the  whole  floor.  Still  finer  dust  clings 
to  the  walls  and  all  projecting  surfaces,  and  the  air  is  often  so  dust 
laden  that  after  a  couple  of  minutes'  exposure  the  leaf  of  one's  note- 
book is  quite  gritty  with  dust.  In  many  places  the  crushed  ore  is 
carried  to  the  ore  beds  or  weighmg  hoppers  by  a  traveling  belt  which 
usually  passes  iminclosed  through  the  building  and  lets  quantities 
of  dust  spill  as  it  passes  along.  The  illustration  (plate  1)  shows 
another  method,  which  is  equally  detrimental.  Crushers  and  screens 
leak,  chutes  are  open,  the  ore  shoveled  in  at  the  dump  is  often  much 
drier  than  it  shoidd  be,  and  the  ground  product  of  the  mills  is  often 
discharged  m  such  a  way  as  to  allow  clouds  of  dust  to  escape.  It 
would  seem  as  if  prevention  of  such  conditions  were  simply  a  ques- 
tion of  care  and  attention,  not  of  elaborate  and  expensive  mechanical 
devices,  but  in  the  absence  of  ordinary  care  the  mill  which  is  crush- 
ing anything  but  sulphide  ore  is  a  dangerous  place.  The  excuse  for 
leavuig  everything  open  is  said  to  be  the  danger  of  clogging,  which 
necessitates  getting  at  the  mechanism  easily. 

A  description  of  two  mills  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  difference  that 
attention  to  cleanliness  may  make. 

No.  20.  The  ore  here  is  largely  sulphide  from  the  Cceur  d'Alene 
district.  There  are  two  mills — an  old  one  in  which  matte  was  bemg 
crushed,  and  a  new  one  which  was  crushing  ore.  The  old  building 
had  old  wooden  floors,  but  they  were  clean.  No  dust  was  percep- 
tible m  the  air  and  very  little  on  projecting  surfaces,  a  fact  which 
was  explained  by  the  weU-inclosed  crushers  and  the  installation  of 
a  spray  above  the  discharge  to  the  travehng  belt,  which  served  to 
dampen  the  ore  as  it  left  the  crusher.  The  new  building  is  better 
constructed  with  a  clean  cement  floor,  but  there  was  more  fine  dust 
here  on  projecting  surfaces,  perhaps  because  ore  grinding  is  dustier 
than  matte  grinding.  There  is  a  separate  lunch  room  connected  with 
this  building  and  the  men  were  lunching  there  at  the  time.  Near  it 
was  a  very  well-equipped  wash  room,  with  accommodations  for  14 
men.  It  was  provided  with  soap  machines,  paper  towels,  good 
basins,  and  hot  and  cold  water. 

No.  15.  The  ore  handled  here  is  two-thirds  sulphide  and  one- third 
oxidized  ore,  with  about  5  per  cent  pure  carbonate.  The  mill  was 
excessively  dusty.  The  manager  said  that  as  samples  of  the  ore  are 
taken  at  once  for  analysis,  all  the  ore  could  be  dampened  and  none 
need  be  handled  dry,  but  aU  that  was  seen  going  into  the  crushers 
during  this  visit  was  quite  dry.  The  air  in  the  first  floor  of  the  mill 
was  so  thick  with  dust  that  one  could  feel  the  particles  in  one's 
mouth,  and  clothes  and  notebook  were  powdered  in  a  few  minutes. 


20  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

Most  of  it  came  iii.  puffs  and  showers  from  the  traveling  belt.  H^eaps 
of  dust  la}'  m  corners,  though  the  center  of  the  room  had  been  swept 
and  was  damp  at  the  time.  The  second  story  was  also  dusty,  but 
not  as  bad  as  the  first.  There  are  no  washing  facilities  at  all  in  this 
mill  and  no  hmch  room. 

The  "plate  room,"  where  samples  for  analysis  are  mixed,  is  always 
senipulously  clean,  because  if  dust  were  allowed  to  blow  about,  the 
different  specimens  of  the  ore  would  become  mixed  and  great  inac- 
curacies might  result.  The  process  of  mixing  and  separating  out 
the  sample,  which  is  done  on  a  floor  covered  with  smooth  iron  plates, 
is  quite  free  from  dust.  Then  this  sample  goes  to  the  "bucking 
room, "  where  it  is  ground  in  small  mills,  sifted  by  hand,  and  usually 
ground  to  extreme  fineness  on  an  iron  "bucking  plate"  by  means  of 
a  long-handled  hammer  with  a  large  and  heavy  flat  piece  of  iron  at 
the  end,  which  is  known  as  the  "bucker."  The  finely  groimd  sam- 
ples are  mixed  thoroughly  in  tumbling  boxes  or  by  tossing  the 
powder  to  and  fro  on  a  piece  of  oilcloth. 

Most  sample  mills  leak  more  or  less  while  they  are  grinding,  and 
there  is  always  an  escape  of  dust  whUe  the  powder  is  being  poured  in 
or  taken  out.  There  is  some  dust  from  bucking  and  from  mixing 
and  there  is  a  good  deal  of  very  fine  dust  when  the  bucking  boards, 
tumbling  boxes,  and  mills  are  brushed  clean  to  prepare  for  a  new 
sample.  Conditions  are  so  nearly  equal  in  all  the  sample  mills  seen 
that  it  is  needless  to  describe  specific  instances.  The  danger  from 
the  dust  varies  according  to  the  nature  of  the  ore  that  has  been 
ground  and  sifted. 

In  an  ore  sampling  mill  for  western  ores  the  average  monthly  pay 
roll  is  30  men.  The  physician's  report  for  this  plant  was  as  follows: 
October,  1912,  no  cases  of  lead  poisoning;  November,  4  cases;  Decem- 
ber, 7;  January,  1913,  4;  February,  3;  March.,  1;  April,  1;  May,  2; 
June,  2;  July,  none;  August,  2;  September,  1;  total,  27  cases  in  one 
year. 

TRANSPORTING  GROUND  ORE. 

Before  being  smelted,  ores  of  different  compositions  are  mixed, 
the  purpose  being  to  secure  a  compound  containing  chemical  elements 
which  will  react  upon  one  another  in  such  a  way  as  to  facilitate  the 
smelting  process.  A  '^ charge"  or  mass  of  ore  prepared  for  smelting 
must  contain  these  different  ingredients  in  a  certain  fixed  proportion, 
otherwise  it  will  not  smelt  properly.  Mixing  the  charge  is  an  impor- 
tant part  of  the  preparatory  processes. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  difference  in  the  way  the  crushed  ore  is 
handled  between  mill  and  furnace  and  consequently  in  the  amount 
of  dust  to  which  the  workers  are  exposed.  In  one  plant  all  the  ore 
was  decidedly  wet  at  the  time  of  inspection.  The  ore  beds  are  oiit 
in  the  open  with  clean,  damp  cement  walks  between  the  two  rows 


LEAD  POISOKING  IN   SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  21 

of  beds;  trapdoors  through  which  the,  ore  is  dropped  to  a  car  below 
are  phiced  at  intervals,  thus  making  a  ver}'  safe  and  clean  method 
of  loading.  In  another  plant  the  separate  ingredients  for  the  charge 
are  placed  in  weighing  hoppei-s  in  a  damp  condition  and  discharged 
from  the  bottom  of  these  hoppers  on  to  a  travehng  belt.  This  also 
is  an  excellent  and  safe  arrangement  because  everything  is  kept  damp 
and  there  is  no  dust  either  at  the  discharge  from  the  hoppers,  or  at 
the  cylinders  Avhere  the  mixing  is  done,  or  at  the  discharge  from  the 
cylinders.  A  similar  arrangement  in  another  plant,  however,  is 
inexcusably  dusty  because  of  careless  management.  Here  the  air 
was  clouded  Avith  fine  dust  and  every  projecting  surface  was  thickly 
coA'ered  with  it.  The  place  looked  as  if  it  had  never  been  cleaned. 
The  dry  ingredients  for  the  charge  drop  from  large  weighing  hoppers 
to  the  belt,  which  discharges  them  at  a  dump  leading  to  the  mixer,  a 
large  hole  in  the  floor  covered  with  a  grate.  Here  a  man  was  stationed 
to  control  the  discharge  and  rake  and  push  it  through  the  grate. 
Tlie  whole  place  was  enveloped  in  clouds  of  dust.  This  man  was 
interviewed  later  and  said  that  he  was  quitting  because  the  familiar 
sjmiptoms  of  lead  poisoning  had  begun  to  appear  and  he  recognized 
them,  as  he  had  been  leaded  before.  He  also  said  that  all  of  the  five 
men  who  had  previously  held  this  job  had  left  for  the  same  reason. 

A  very  excellent  arrangement  was  seen  in  a  fourth  plant  where 
by  an  ingenious  deA^ce  some  discarded  Bruckner  cyhnders  have  been 
converted  into  receptacles  for  ore  and  for  the  other  ingi'edients  needed 
in  the  furnace  charges.  Weighing  hoppers  regulate  the  discharge 
of  these  ingredients  to  a  traveling  belt  which  passes  under  them. 
The  process  is  free  from  dust  and  practically  automatic. 

SMELTING. 

After  the  ores  have  been  ground  and  mixed,  they  are  ready  for  the 
furnace  processes.  There  are  three  gi'oups  of  these:  (1)  Roasting, 
preroasting,  and  sintering;  (2)  reduction  or  smelting  proper;  (3) 
refining  processes,  such  as  drossing,  desilvering,  and  the  like.  Tlie 
purpose  of  roasting  is  to  drive  off  sulphur,  antimony,  and  arsenic, 
or  any  other  ingredients  which  are  either  volatile  in  the  first  place 
or  are  rendered  so  by  a  prehminary  heating.  The  oxidized  mixture 
thus  obtained  is  then  ready  for  smelting,  after  which  the  refining 
processes  are  used  to  free  the  lead  from  all  traces  of  the  other  metals 
which  may  have  been  mixed  with  it  in  the  ore. 

Ordinarily  these  three  processes  are  quite  distinct,  a  separate  fur- 
nace or  group  of  furnaces  being  used  for  each.  In  the  case  of  simple 
lead  compounds,  like  galena,  the  roasting  and  smelting  may  be  com- 
bined in  one  operation,  for  which  only  one  furnace,  either  an  open 
hearth  or  a  reverberatory  furnace  is  used.     More  commonly,  however, 


22  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

roasting  is  carried  on  in  one  or  more  furnaces  designed  for  this  use 
only. 

In  the  course  of  the  present  investigation,  the  following  furnaces 
were  found  in  use,  divided  as  indicated  among  the  three  groups  of 
processes : 

I.  Preparatory  roasting: 

Hand-rabbled  reverberatory  furnaces. 
Mechanical  preroasters — 

Godfrey  furnace. 

Holthoff  furnace. 

Wedge  furnace. 
Roasting  and  sintering  furnaces — 

Huntington-Heberlein  pots. 

Dwight-Lloyd  machines. 
II.  Smelting  processes: 

Open  or  Scotch  hearth  (combines  roasting  and  smelting). 

Hand-rabbled  reverberatory  furnace  (combines  roasting  and  smelting,  but  is 

almost  obsolete). 
Blast  furnace,  with,  in  some  cases,  a  settling  furnace  in  addition.  , 
III.  Refining  processes: 

Softening  and  refining  furnaces. 

Drossing,  remelting,  and  desilvering  furnaces. 

By-product  furnaces. 

Retorting  and  cupelling  furnaces. 

Liquating  furnaces. 

The  technical  details  in  the  following  description  of  the  different 
furnaces  used  in  lead  smelting  and  refining  in  the  United  States  were 
prepared  by  H.  B.  Pulsifer,  of  the  Armour  Institute,  Chicago.  His 
description  is  supplemented  by  specific  instances  seen  in  the  course 
of  this  investigation. 

FURNACES  USED  IN  LEAD  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES. 

At  the  present  time  a  great  variety  of  furnaces  exist  in  the  lead 
industry  as  practiced  in  the  20  plants  which  form  the  subject  of  this 
study. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  ores  and  intermediate  products  for  actual 
reduction  the  old  hand-rabbled  reverberatory  is  still  used  to  a  slight 
extent,  in  particular  for  roasting  lead  mattes.  The  Briickner  cylinder, 
which  for  a  very  few  years  flourished  as  an  improvement  on  rever- 
beratory roasting,  has  disappeared  entirely.  The  Huntington- 
Heberlein  process  of  pot  roasting,  the  next  roasting  innovation  after 
the  Bruckner,  is  still  largely  used  side  by  side  with  the  more  recent 
imiovations.  The  Midvale  converters  are  a  mere  variation  of  this 
process  and,  hygienically  considered,  are  practically  the  same  thing. 
A  method  which  is  coming  into  general  use  now  for  preparing  ore 
for  the  blast  furnace  is  down-draft,  sinter-roasting  by  means  of  the 
Dwight-Lloyd  machines.     For  preroasting  the  Godfrey  or  Holthoff 


Bulletin  No.  141— Labor. 


PLATE  2.— ORE  HEARTH   OR  SCOTCH    HEARTH. 

This  is  protected  by  a  double  hood,  the  flaring  outer  hood  corning  over  the  work  plate, 
but  not  over  the  lead  well,  to  the  right,  nor  the  car  for  gray  slag,  to  the  left. 
The  photograph  was  taken  purposely  during  an  interval  when  there  was  no  slag  on 
the  work  plate,  so  that  fumes  would  not  obscure  the  view. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  23 

furnaces  are  commonly  used,  but  Wedge  furnaces,  patterned  on 
those  used  in  copper  smelting,  are  being  introduced. 

In  the  actual  reduction  of  the  ores  to  metallic  lead  the  ore  hearth, 
first  used  in  England  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  is 
even  to-day  used  on  a  large  scale  and  with  only  little  change  in 
furnace  construction.  The  reverberatory  furnace,  whose  climax 
came  about  a  century  ago  in  England,  is  all  but  extinct  with  us  now, 
only  a  couple  of  furnaces  being  in  use  in  just  one  plant.  The  blast 
furnace  is  our  main  device  for  winnmg  metallic  lead;  it  has  had  a 
great  development  and  appears  firmly  fixed  in  its  preeminent  position. 
In  the  plants  about  the  country  we  can  find  blast  furnaces  of  every 
capacity  from  30  to  250  tons  per  24  hours.  The  smaller  of  these 
furnaces  have  not  much  increased  capacity  over  furnaces  used  for 
centuries,  but  their  construction  and  operation  show  the  result  of  the 
general  improvement  in  blast  furnaces. 

In  the  refinmg  of  the  bullion  made  in  the  blast  furnace  quite  a 
variety  of  reverberatory  furnaces  exists.  Softening  and  refining  is 
done  in  furnaces  holding  from  50  to  300  tons,  both  practically  iden- 
tical in  construction.  Reverberatory  furnaces  are  also  used  for 
liquating  and  for  working  up  matte  and  antimonial  slags.  Fabre 
du  Faur  tilting  furnaces  (retorts)  are  used  to  distill  the  zinc  from  the 
silver  crusts;  the  American  modification  of  the  English  cupellation 
furnace  is  widely  used  to  win  the  dore  (silver  and  gold)  from  the 
rich  lead.  Large,  open  cast-iron  kettles  are  commonly  used  for 
remelting,  drossing,  and  desilvering. 

The  degree  of  danger  to  which  the  worker  is  exposed  differs  materi- 
ally according  to  the  furnace  at  which  he  works  and  to  the  precau- 
tions taken  to  safeguard  him  from  dust  and  fumes.  In  the  following 
pages  descriptions  will  be  given  of  the  furnaces  seen  in  use,  and  of  the 
conditions  actually  prevailing  in  the  plants  visited. 

ORE  HEARTHS. 

These  furnaces,  commonly  known  in  America  as  Scotch  or  open 
hearths  and  in  Germany  and  Austria  as  American  hearths,  are  con- 
sidered first  as  being  the  oldest  device  and  involving  the  simplest 
process  still  in  use  for  smelting  lead. 

The  usual  hearth  is  a  cast-iron  box,  4  feet  long,  18  inches  wide,  and 
1  foot  deep;  it  rests  on  a  base  or  legs  with  its  top  about  waist  high. 
About  the  hearth  box  and  resting  on  it  is  a  three-sided  water  j  acket, 
also  of  cast  iron,  while  above  is  always  an  inner  hood  to  catch  most 
of  the  fume  and  in  addition  a  broader,  more  spreading  hood  may  be 
placed  over  both  men  and  box.     (See  plate  2.) 

Two  men  work  the  hearth;  they  throw  on  the  fine  ore  and  coke 
with  a  shovel;  they  stir  the  charge  with  pokers  and  toss  the  hot  slag, 
first  out  onto  the  work  plate  or  apron,  then  into  a  receptacle  at  one 


24  BULLETIN    OF   THE  BUBEATJ    GF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

side  (which  may  contain  water)  and  drain  out  the  melted  lead  into  a 
pot  at  the  otner  side.  Almost  without  intermission  the  work  goes 
on  during  the  shift.  Whenever  the  fire  blazes  up  well  through  the 
smoothed-off  mass,  the  latter  must  be  stirred  and  restirred  and  tlirown 
back,  and  more  ore  and  coke  added,  and  after  a  rest  of  a  few  seconds 
the  whole  operation  must  be  repeated. 

The  blast  comes  into  the  hearth  through  a  row  of  holes  in  the  back 
just  above  the  level  of  the  lead  which  practically  fills  the  box.  Before 
the  lead  quite  overflows  one  of  the  men  banks  the  channel  at  one 
corner  of  the  work  apron  and  with  his  shovel  pumps  the  lead  up  over 
the  edge  so  that  it  will  run  down  into  the  side  pot.  A  little  coal  fire 
burns  under  this  pot  to  keep  the  lead  hot  till  enough  has  accumulated 
for  the  helper  to  mold  it  into  100-pound  bars.  Such  is  smelting  at 
the  ore  hearth.  One  plant  has  30  of  these  hearths,  another  has  24, 
a  third  has  16. 

The  work  is  hard  and  hot  for  the  hearth  man  and  his  helper.  In 
order  to  make  full  wages  a  man  has  to  work  assiduously.  He  has 
to  stand  up  to  the  flame  and  red  hot  charge  and  keep  the  hearth  in 
condition  all  the  time,  for  it  will  not  make  even  standard  extraction 
if  at  all  neglected.  In  winter  it  is  not  so  bad,  but  in  summer  no  man 
can  stand  it  continuously  for  many  days.  Usually  the  work  is  ch- 
vided  into  three  shifts  of  eight  hours  each  and  the  piecework  is  paid 
for  on  the  assumption  that  the  man  is  working  eight  hours.  There 
are  no  pauses  for  lunch;  if  the  man  stops  he  does  it  at  his  own  loss. 
If  he  wishes  to  wash  his  hands  and  sit  down  and  eat  his  lunch,  he 
must  do  it  knowing  that  the  hearth  will  stop  producing  during  that 
time.  Many  do  not  eat  at  all  while  at  work,  especially  if  they  are 
troubled  by  the  sickishly  sweet  taste  of  lead;  others  stop  for  a  few 
moments  now  and  then  to  eat,  but  not  to  wash.  It  would  be  hard 
to  say  which  is  worse,  exposure  to  lead  fumes  with  an  empty  stomach, 
or  eating  lead  soiled  food. 

About  50  per  cent  of  the  lead  from  the  charge  is  recovered  from 
the  ore  hearth  as  metallic  lead,  about  35  per  cent  goes  into  the  gray 
slag  and  the  rest  into  the  fumes,  which  means  that  smoke  from  the 
lead  pot,  the  slag  pot,  and  from  the  furnace  itself  are  all  rich  in  lead. 
If  there  were  only  one  hearth  in  a  plant  the  men  would  get  the  fumes 
from  only  that  one,  but  with  a  row  of  hearths  each  man  gets  the  smoke 
from  all  the  hearths.  At  every  visit  paid  to  an  ore  hearth  building 
the  air  was  found  to  be  cloudy  ■^^^lth  lead  fumes.      (See  plate  3.) 

A  brief  description  ma}^  be  given  of  two  ore-hearth  buildings.  In  the 
first  (No.  8)  180  men  are  employed  in  three  shifts  of  eight  hours  each. 
This  does  not  include  the  unskilled  laborer  who  brings  the  ore  and 
coke  to  the  hearths  and  who  is  outside  of  the  building  more  than  he 
is  inside.  The  furnaces  are  built  in  a  long  row  under  a  shed  which 
is  open  on  three  sides,  supposedly  for  better  ventilation.     Over  each 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  25 

hearth  is  a  double  hood,  the  outer  one  projecting  far  over  the  hearth 
and  designed  to  catch  all  of  the  fumes  from  the  work  plate,  Never- 
theless the  gusts  of  mnd  from  outside  drove  some  of  the  hearth  fume 
out  into  the  room  and  all  the  dense  white  clouds  which  came  from 
the  lead  slag  as  it  was  thrown  out  into  the  skip  car  escaped  into 
the  room.  There  is  no  water  in  this  car.  The  manager  does  not 
attempt  to  work  the  hearths  for  more  than  about  70  per  cent  of  their 
usual  output  in  the  summer  months,  for  the  men  simply  can  not 
endure  the  heat  and  exertion.  The  hearth  men  are  said  to  earn 
$3.50  to  $3.75  a  day,  the  helpers  $2.50  to  $3. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  is  careful  medical  supervision  of  these 
men,  and  that  the  ore-hearth  men  suspected  of  plumbism  are  sus- 
pended from  work  by  the  doctor,  the  rate  of  lead  poisoning  is  said 
to  be  very  high.  The  men  are  skilled  workmen  and  earn  higher 
wages  than  they  can  at  other  work  in  the  plant;  consequently  they 
object  very  strongly  to  being  shifted  to  safer  departments,  even  con- 
cealing their  symptoms  from  the  doctor  as  long  as  possible  for  fear 
he  will  make  them  stop  work. 

No.  9.  There  are  24  open  hearths  in  a  long  building,  the  sides  of 
which  can  be  opened  for  ventilation,  and  also  closed  on  windy  days. 
Each  hearth  has  a  hood  with  a  strong  exhaust,  but  not  nearly  all  the 
fume  from  the  hearth  passes  up  under  it,  and  that  from  the  slag 
all  escapes,  because  it  is  outside  the  edge  of  the  hood.  There  is 
more  fume  in  the  air  here  than  in  No.  8,  because  the  hood  is  single 
and  not  as  wide  nor  effective.  Another  quite  unnecessary  source  of 
contamination  of  the  air  was  seen  in  the  openings  into  the  flues 
through  which  the  workmen  can  put  their  tools  and  clear  out 
accumulations  of  dust.  In  the  intervals  between  cleanings  these 
holes  are  supposed  to  be  kept  closed,  but  at  least  three  were  open 
at  the  time  of  the  visit  and  sending  out  little  white  puffs  of  smoke- 
Also  in  between  pairs  of  furnaces  there  are  hoppers  attached  to  the 
flues,  in  order  to  collect  at  once  the  hea^der  flue  dust  wlule  the  lighter 
passes  on  to  the  bag  house.  Every  day  the  "nipple"  of  each  hopper 
is  unscrewed  and  this  dust  allowed  to  fall  into  a  truck  below.  This 
adds  lead  dust  to  the  lead  fumes  and  increases  the  danger  of  work 
at  the  furnaces.  Negroes  are  employed  here  and  both  American  and 
foreign  born  wliites.  The  force  shifts  surprisingly  in  spite  of  the 
good  wages  paid.  At  a  second  visit  to  this  plant,  after  an  interval 
of  three  years,  the  foreman  pointed  out  as  an  "old  hand"  a  man 
who  had  been  there  when  the  first  visit  was  made.  He  and  two  others 
were  the  only  ones  left  of  the  men  who  had  been  there  three  years 
ago. 

All  of  the  hearth  men  who  were  interviewed  complained  of  the 
heat,  the  fumes,  and  the  driving  pace.  It  is  doubtful  whether  there 
is  any  one  piece  of  work  in  the  smelting  of  lead  which  is  as  dangerous 


26 


BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


to  health  as  the  ore-hearth  work,  unless  it  be  the  handlmg  of  flue 
dust.  Three  of  the  20  smelters  visited  use  ore  hearths,  and  as  they 
have  in  addition  blast  furnaces  and  large  flue  systems,  it  might  nat- 
urally be  expected  that  they  would  have  more  serious  trouble  from 
lead  poisoning  than  the  other  17  plants.     This  seems  to  be  the  case. 

Concerning  two  of  them,  we  have  no  accurate  report  to  depend 
upon,  yet  even  with  the  very  imperfect  lists  available,  the  number  of 
cases  of  serious  plumbism  is  startling.  In  the  third,  a  thorough 
medical  examination  had  been  made  of  a  part  of  the  force  just  prior 
to  the  inspection  and  the  doctor's  records  were  freely  shown. 

Taking  the  cases  discovered  in  all  three  plants  we  find  that,  as 
compared  with  the  average  smelter,  they  have  an  undue  proportion 
of  lead  poisoning  and  especially  of  its  severer  forms. 

PROPORTION    OF    EMPLOYEES   AND    OF   CASES    OF    PLUMBISM   IN   3    ORE-HEARTH 

PLANTS  AS  COMPARED  WITH  TOTAL  IN  THE  19  PLANTS  VISITED   IN  THE   UNITED 

STATES. 

[One  newly  erected  plant  is  not  here  included.) 


Employees. 

Number  of  cases 

of- 

Number 

Plumb- 
ism. 

Encepha- 
lopathy. 

Palsy. 

of  fatal 
cases. 

7,400 
1,000 

1,769 
397 

41 
29 

35 
19 

16 

9 

n  the  3  ore- 

Per  cent  of  w'lole  number  i 

13.5 

22.4 

70.7 

54.3 

50. 3 

Smelters  which  have  ore  hearths  have  over  five  times  their  proper 
proportion  of  encephalopathy  (convulsions,  delirium,  insanity,  etc.), 
and  about  four  times  their  proper  proportion  of  palsy,  for  as  they  have 
but  13.5  per  cent  of  the  men  employed  in  smelting,  they  should  have 
only  that  proportion  of  encephalopathy,  palsy,  and  death.  This 
excess  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  employment  of  Negroes^  on  the 
hearths  in  one  plant. 

The  most  detailed  foreign  report  on  the  use  of  ore  hearths  in  the 
smelting  of  lead  is  that  given  in  the  Austrian  coinmission's  report.^ 
What  is  here  called  the  Scotch  hearth  and  by  the  Austrians,  the 
American  hearth,  is  described  in  the  chapter  on  the  smelter  at  Gailitz. 
As  far  as  one  can  tell,  the  work  is  done  in  the  same  way  as  it  is  in  this 
country  and  the  risks  are  the  same,  but  the  Austrians  take  the  matter 
far  more  seriously  than  we  do.  Recognizing  that  heat,  exertion, 
and  exposure  to  fumes  are  inevitable  at  the  ore  hearths,  they  take 
the  one  obvious  precaution  and  reduce  the  hours  of  work.  At  the 
time  the  report  of  the  royal  commission  was  written  the  following 
system  was  in  force  in  the  Gailitz  plant  and  was  made  compulsory 
by  the  rules  established  in  1910.     On  each  12-hour  shift  four  men  are 

»  See  p.  63. 

"  K.  k.  Arbeitsstatistisches  Amt  im  Handelsmiulsterium:    Bleiverglftungen  m  hiittenmansclien  und 
gewerblichen  Betrieben,  I  Teil,  pp.  21-27.    Wien,  1905.       ' 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  27 

employed,  working  in  pairs  for  two  hours  at  a  time,  then  changing 
off  with  the  other  pair  of  men  for  two  hours,  and  so  on,  making  six 
hours  work  for  each  man  during  the  12-hour  shift.  The  shifts  are 
also  so  arranged  that  a  24-hour  rest  period  divides  one  working 
period  from  the  next.  For  this,  three  relays  of  men  are  needed, 
working  as  follows:  Shift  A,  from  6  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m.,  Monday;  B, 
from  6  p.  m.  Monday  to  6  a.  m.,  Tuesday;  C,  from  6  a.  m.  to  6  p.  m., 
Tuesday;  and  A,  again,  at  6  p.  m.,  Tuesday.  In  this  way  the  men 
of  shift  A  work  for  six  hours  on  Monday  and  then  rest  until  Tuesday 
evening.  Such  excessive  care  is  considered  by  the  Austrians  only 
reasonable  in  view  of  the  enormous  risks  involved  in  the  work. 
That  the  precautions  are  justified  can  be  seen  in  the  records  of  Gailitz, 
where  in  1889  there  were  14  cases  of  colic  among  61  men,  but  in  the 
two  years,  1902  and  1903,  not  one  case  among  49  men. 

The  danger  in  ore-hearth  work  is  first  from  the  fumes  in  the  air; 
second,the  danger  from  dust.  Compared  to  these  the  danger  from  un- 
washed hands  is  negligible  and  the  best  appointed  and  best  managed 
bath  house  and  dining  room  will  have  little  effect  on  the  incidence  of 
lead  poisoning  in  this  department.  It  is  a  question  of  dust  and 
fume  control. 

SMELTING  IN  REVERBERATOKY  FURNACES. 

These  naturally  followed  the  ore  hearth  in  the  evolution  of  this 
branch  of  metallurgy.  In  the  United  States  the  reverberatory  has 
had  its  day.  Ore  treatment  by  this  appliance  required  too  much 
manual  labor  and  fuel;  no  mechanical  device  has  been  invented  to 
replace  the  manual  labor,  because  of  the  peculiar  and  varied  condi- 
tions which  must  be  met  with  during  the  heat  on-  each  charge. 

Ore  is  dropped  into  the  furnace  through  a  hopper  over  the  top  of 
the  roof;  the  furnaceman  spreads  the  charge  about,  rabbles  it  at 
intervals,  regulates  his  fire,  and  finally  gets  the  fused  residue  out. 
The  reduced  lead  has  meanwhile  run  out  into  its  pot,  and  just  before 
the  shift  ends  the  lead  is  molded  into  100-pound  bars. 

Working  the  charge  is  arduous  and  requires  a  training  not  at  all 
fostered  in  this  country.  There  is  but  1  of  the  20  plants  in  which 
such  a  furnace  is  in  use. 

REVERBERATORY  FURNACES  FOR  ROASTING. 

Ore  hearths  and  reverberatories  for  smelting  have  been  mentioned 
first  because  they  are  the  oldest  methods  and  require  no  preparation 
of  the  material  before  it  is  put  in  the  furnace.  But  for  blast  fur- 
naces most  material  does  require  preparation,  and  this  brings  us 
to  the  furnaces  used  for  the  purpose  of  roasting  and  ''sintering" 
(agglomerating)  the  ore,  preparatory  to  smelting  it  in  blast  furnaces. 

The  long,  hand-rabbled  reverberatory  has  seen  many  decades  of 
service  in  roasting  and  agglomerating  lead  ores  and  mattes.     The 


28  BULLETIN    OF    THE    BUEEAU    OF    LABOR    STATISTICS.  , 

furnace  is  merc43-  a  long,  narrow,  closely  covered  floor,  with  a  firebox 
at  one  end,  on  which  the  fine  ore  is  spread,  stirred,  pushed  along; 
toward  the  hot  end,  and  finally  poked  through  to  the  buggy  below. 
The  whole  contrivance  is  made  of  brick;  60  feet  is  a  common  lengtli, 
14  feet  is  an  ordinary  width,  and  the  arched  roof  is  not  much  more 
than  2  feet  above  the  floor  at  the  height  of  the  arch. 

The  ore  or  matte  is  dropped  into  the  furnace  from  a  hopper  over 
a  hole  in  the  top  of  the  arch  near  the  far  end  of  the  furnace.  At  this 
back  end,  where  the  charge  is  first  spread,  the  furnace  is  not  very 
]u)t  and  the  easily  fusible  charge  does  not  melt  as  it  would  at  the  hot 
end.  Gradually  the  charge  is  worked  forward  toward  the  hot  end 
of  the  furnace,  but  it  is  continuously  losing  sulphur,  or  roasting,  until 
finally  it  can  be  heated  pretty  hot  and  suffer  strong  desulphurization 
before  final  discharge. 

Spreading,  sthring,  and  moving  the  charge  is  heavy  and  hot  and 
exacting  labor.  But  the  work  does  not  drive  the  men  as  hearth  work 
does,  since  there  is  no  way  to  check  up  piecework  as  when  the  lead 
is  weighed  up  at  the  hearth  and  each  man  is  paid  according  to  the 
amount  he  has  extracted. 

There  is  likely  to  be  some  dust  about  the  battery  of  reverberatories, 
and  a  bad  fume  usually  comes  from  the  freshly  drawn  charge  of 
roasted  material.  After  this  has  cooled  it  is  shoveled  and  placed  in 
trucks,  in  which  process  dust  is  raised.  Only  two  plants  were  found 
in  which  this  method  of  roasting  still  persists,  and  it  is  said  that  these 
are  soon  to  abandon  it. 

MECHANICAL  PREROASTERS. 

Owing  to  the  easily  fusible  nature  of  all  leady  material  which  has 
to  be  roasted,  mechanical  roasters  were  slow  in  making  headway. 
They  have  made  great  progress  in  the  metallurgy  of  copper,  but 
"wdth  lead,  only  the  Godfrey  and  the  Holthoff  furnaces  have  found 
much  use ;  until  very  recently  the  Wedge  furnace, .  a  modification  of 
the  furnaces  used  in  copper  smelting,  has  been  introduced.  These 
types  of  furnaces  require  scarcely  any  attention;  in  fact,  during  the 
natural  runnmg  of  the  furnace  it  has  only  to  be  oiled,  the  fire  kept 
up,  the  hopper  above  filled,  and  the  roast  taken  away  whenever  a 
car  is  filled.  The  furnaces  make  scarcely  any  outside  dust  or  fumes. 
Cleaning  and  repauing  will  be  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
same  work  on  all  types  of  furnaces. 

In  most  of  the  plants  visited  the  mechanical  roasting  department 
was  clean  and  free  from  perceptible  fumes  except  when  some  acci- 
dent to  the  working  of  a  furnace  caused  it  to  smoke  for  a  time. 
The  charging  is  usually  mechanical,  and  the  discharge  of  roasted  mate- 
rial often  takes  place  under  a  spray  of  water  which  eliminates  all 
risk  of  dust.     When  the  work  is  carelessly  done  and  dust  and  fumes 


Bulletin  No.  141— Labor. 


PLATE  4.— HUNTINGTON-HEBERLEIN    POT, 


The  pot  is  the  lower  half,  the  upper  half  consisting  of  the  great  hood  and  flue  which  is 
fitted  over  the  pot  during  roasting.  The  windows  in  the  side  are  opened  for  raking 
from  time  to  time.  When  roasting  is  complete  the  hood  is  lifted  off,  the  pot  caught  by 
a  crane,  tipped  over,  and  the  smoking  charge  dumped  and  crushed. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD.  29 

are  permitted  there  is  danger,  because  botJi  fumes  and  dust  fioia 
preroasters  contain  oxide  of  lead. 

HUNTINGTON-HEBERLEIN  POTS. 

Tliis  metliod  of  roasting  and  sintering  ores  was  developed  in 
Europe  and  introduced  into  this  country  in  1905.  Tlie  general 
design  of  these  furnaces  is  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration 
(plate  4).  The  charge  to  be  roasted  is  placed  in  a  huge  cast-iron  pot 
wliicli  has  a  false  bottom.  If  the  first  layers  of  the  charge  are  red-hot, 
tlie  roasting  begins  the  moment  the  blast  is  turned  on  beneath  tlie 
grate;  otherwise  a  coal  or  coke  fire  must  be  started  in  the  bottom 
before  the  charge  is  dumped  in. 

As  the  blast  is  forced  into  the  pot  and  the  gaseous  products  of 
the  roasting  must  pass  away  from  the  top  of  the  pot,  it  is  necessary 
to  provide  a  hood  and  an  abundant  draft  in  order  to  work  about 
the  pot  at  all.  The  charge  in  the  pot  usually  has  to  be  poked  at 
intervals,  thus  necessitating  opening  the  doors  of  the  hood  to  see  in 
and  use  the  poker. 

The  charging  of  the  pots  need  not  be  bad  work,  for  the  charge 
sliould  be  moist  to  roast  best,  and  this  keeps  down  the  dust.  Of 
course,  when  the  pots  are  charged  with  dry,  fine  material  it  is  a  dusty 
task,  and  still  worse  when  the  charge  is  red-hot. 

The  discharging  of  the  pots  is  an  extremely  unsatisfactory  part  of 
their  use.  The  charge  is  hot,  smoking,  and  dusty;  it  may  be  dumped 
out  by  simply  turning  the  pot  or  by  lifting  the  whole  pot  and  turning 
it  over  in  mid-air.  In  an}'  case  clouds  of  fume  and  dust  fiU  the  air 
surroundin-g  the  workmen  and  the  craneman  who  is  controlling  the 
mechanical  bolster.  The  breaking  of  the  big  cakes  of  sintered  ore 
(called  'Hhe  button")  is  a  part  of  the  dumping  and  no  reaU}^  satisfac- 
tory method  of  dumping  and  crushing  has  3'et  been  devised.  Usually 
the  cake  drops  from  a  height  and  breaks  into  great  masses,  then  a 
crusliing  stone  is  lifted  by  machinery  and  dropped  on  it  repeatedly, 
and  finally  the  men  break  up  the  refractory  masses  by  hand  and 
shovel  the  coarse  mass  into  the  crusher  or  into  trucks  for  the  crusher. 
This  is  almost  always  one  of  the  most  dangerous  places  in  a  smelter. 

The  follo\Ndng  description  of  this  part  of  the  work  was  given  b}"  a 
metallurgist  who  has  had  practical  experience  in  many  departments 
of  smelting: 

An  updraft  plant  (H.  &  H.  or  converter  roaster)  operated  at  capacity  may  be  a 
perfectly  agreeable  place  at  times  and  at  others  it  may  be  a  veritable  hell.  One  day 
the  air  may  be  clear  and  the  flues  carrying  off  eA^ery  noticeable  puff  of  smoke  that 
rices;  another  day  there  may  be  a  high  wind  with  the  flues  laboring  to  get  even  part 
of  the  gases  through  and  the  place  a  smokehouse,  with  the  men  shirking  as  much  as 
possible,  and  only  now  and  then  dashing  in  to  turn  a  valve  or  hook  a  chain  or  give 
the  charge  a  jab.  The  craneman  has  the  worst  of  it,  for  he  can  not  get  out  of  the  way. 
If  superintendents  and  managers  had  to  endure  their  own  upblast  plants,  they  would 
have  been  replaced  long  ago. 


30  BULLETIlSr   OF   THE   BUREAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

German  factory  inspectors  comment  on  the  danger  of  breaking  the 
roasted  ore  from  these  pots.  In  a  certain  smelter  in  the  Wiesbaden 
district  ^  the  number  of  cases  of  lead  poisoning  increased  from  33 
among  459  men  (7  per  100)  in  1910  to  65  among  587,  or  11  per  100, 
and  the  inspector  attributed  the  increase  partly  to  the  introduction 
of  Huntington-Heberlein  pots,  necessitating  the  dusty  work. 

Hmitington-Heberlein  pots  are  found  in  6  of  these  20  smelting 
plants  and  as  the  converter  roasters  in  Midvale,  Utah,  are  essentially 
the  same,  there  are  7  plants  which  have  from  8  to  60  pots  apiece. 
Usually  they  are  placed  out  in  the  open  air,  but  in  East  Helena  the 
wmters  are  so  severe  and  the  snowfall  so  heavy  that  a  closed  building 
is  necessary.  In  all  these  plants  there  is  some  dangerous  fume  in 
the  working  of  the  pots  and  always  there  are  quantities  of  dust. 
Indeed,  in  one  very  clean  and  very  carefuUy  managed  smelter,  the 
breaking  up  of  the  roasted  cake  from  these  pots  is  the  dustiest  and 
most  dangerous  piece  of  work  in  the  whole  place.  It  would  seem  to 
the  ordinary  observer  that  it  was  possible  to  do  away  with  hand  labor 
in  the  breaking  up  of  the  roasted  ore  and  in  conveying  it  to  the  crusher, 
but  the  problem  has  not  yet  been  solved.  Everywhere  one  sees  men 
working  in  a  cloud  of  dust  and  sulphur  fumes,  breaking,  shoveUng, 
and  pushing  the  fuming,  dusty  masses  to  get  them  into  the  crusher. 
Spraying  the  mass  of  sintered  ore  with  water  is  the  rule  in  most 
places,  especially  to  wash  off  the  "fines,"  the  powder  that  has  escaped 
the  caking  process,  but  the  water  does  not  really  soak  in  far,  and  the 
inside  of  the  cake  is  still  dry.  In  one  of  the  Colorado  smelters  no 
sprinkling  was  used  in  winter  because  the  men  are  said  to  object  to 
the  steam  which  it  generates. 

Although  dust  is  the  great  danger  in  this  work,  fumes  are  not 
absent.  All  pots  leak  when  the  wind  is  in  the  wrong  direction.  This 
smoke  is  stated  to  contain  only  10  per  cent  of  lead,  the  rest  being  SO,, 
but  10  per  cent  of  lead  in  a  state  of  fine  division  is  an  appreciable 
quantity.  Miiller  regards  these  fumes  as  decidedly  dangerous.  He 
also  finds  more  lead  on  the  men's  hands  here  than  in  most  work.  Of 
two  men  employed  in  breaking  up  roasted  ore,  which  had  been  well 
sprinkled,  one  had  0.605  g.  of  lead  (estimated  as  sulphate)  on  his 
hands  at  the  end  of  the  day's  work,  the  other  had  0.643  g.  However, 
Mtiller  had  had  no  case  of  lead  poisoning  in  this  department  in  his 
plant  for  13  years  because  of  a  thorough  use  of  sprinkling  and  a  strict 
attention  to  the  men's  cleanhness. 

Laureck  ^  gives  statistics  for  lead  poisoning  among  the  chargers  of 
the  Huntington-Heberlein  pots  and  the  breakers  of  roasted  ore  in  the 
royal  Friedrichshiitte  in  Tarnowitz. 

1  Jahresbericht  d.  Gewerbeaufsichtsheamten  u.  Bergbehorden,  1912,  vol.  i,  p.  490. 

^Kraukheiten  der  Arbeitcr  in  Blei-,  Silber-,  Zink  und  Quecksilberhiitten,  by  P.  Laureck.    In  Weyl's 
Ilandbuch  der  Arbeiterkrankheiten,  p.  39. 


LEAD  POISOXING  IX  SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD. 


31 


CASES  OF  LEAD  POISONING  AMONG  CHARGERS  OF  HUNTINGTON-HEBERLEIN  POTS 
AND  BREAKERS  OF  ROASTED  ORE  IN  THE  ROYAL  FRIEDRICHSHUTTE  IN  TARNO- 
WITZ,  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  BY  YEARS.  1902  TO  1904. 


Year. 

Employees. 

Cases  of  lead  poisoning. 

Number. 

Rate  per  100 
employees. 

1902 

1903 

1904 

250 
267 
232 

58 
59 
24 

23.2 
22.1 
10.3 

This  shows  that  the  work  even  after  the  installation  of  improve- 
ments was  still  dangerous,  and  short  periods  of  work  are  recommended 
for  the  breakers,  alternating  Tvith  the  chargers. 

CONTINUOUS  SINTERING  MACHINES. 

A  great  deal  of  experimenting  has  been  done  to  improve  the 
up-draft  method  of  roasting  and  sintering  and  eventually  a  system 
has  been  devised  which  depends  on  suction  down  through  the  charge. 
The  inventions  of  D^vight  and  Lloyd  consist  in  making  the  operation 
continuous.  This  is  known  as  sinter-roasting  by  D wight-Lloyd 
machines,  a  method  which  is  being  generally  adopted  for  roasting 
and  smtering  work. 

In  this  operation  the  well-mixed  and  moistened  charge  is  fed  to  a 
moving  grate  through  the  bottom  of  a  hopper;  the  grate  moves 
slowly  forward  beaiing  its  -i  or  5  inch  layer  of  mixture  over  the  edge 
of  a  suction  box  and  under  a  flame  playing  down  from  above.  The 
flame  is  drawn  by  the  suction  down  toward  the  charge,  ignites  it,  and 
the  gases  pass  downward  into  the  suction  box.  During  the  passage 
of  the  ignited  charge  over  the  suction  box  the  chemical  and  physical 
work  is  accompUshed  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  machine  the  cake, 
which  breaks  off  and  falls  into  the  car,  is  both  roasted  and  sintered. 
The  empty  grate  passes  down  along  an  endless  belt  and  up  again  to 
the  starting  place.  Meanwhile  the  gases  and  fume  go  from  the 
suction  box  through  the  flue  to  the  fan  and  then  away  to  the  big 
flues  and  bag  house. 

Not  only  has  this  process  cheapened  and  improved  the  work  in 
every  metallurgical  sense,  but  the  conditions  of  operating  can  be 
made  far  superior  from  the  hygienic  standpoint  to  those  of  any  other 
similar  process.  This  comes  from  the  fact  that  a  positive  suction  at 
all  points  of  the  active  operation  may  be  made  to  draw  all  gas,  fume, 
or  smoke  into  the  machine  and  not  permit  it  to  escape  and  poison 
the  workmen.  At  the  end  of  the  machine  where  the  smoking  cake 
breaks  off  arrangements  can  also  be  made  to  suck  in  any  fume  still 
persisting.     The  influence  of  external  conditions  on  the  evolution  of 


32  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

fiime  has  been  guarded  against  and  the  suction  works  ik^  matter  how 
the  wind  blows. 

Howerer,  it  is  unfortunately  very  rare  to  find  a  Dwight-Lloyd 
installation  in  which  there  is  no  escape  of  fume,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  find  one  without  dust.  There  may  be  dust  at  the  feeding  point, 
there  is  almost  always  dust  on  the  floor  and  fine  dust  on  projecting 
surfaces.  The  down-draft  at  the  roasting  box  is  often  insufficient 
and  little  white  puffs  of  fume  escape.  In  recognition  of  this  fact 
the  manager  of  the  Midvale  plant  has  placed  a  hood  with  a  fan  and 
up-draft  at  this  point,  and  also  at  the  place  where  the  charge  falls 
on  the  grate  and  where  there  is  often  quite  a  Httle  dust. 

A  bad  feature  of  the  Dwight-Lloyd  machines  is  the  grate  cleaning. 
The  charge  sticks  more  or  less  closely  to  the  grate  and  after  the 
roasted  mass  has  fallen  off  the  bits  which  still  adhere  must  be  chipped 
off  or  the  next  charge  will  not  stick.  The  dustiness  of  this  w^ork 
varies  greatly  just  as  the  stickiness  of  the  charge  varies  greath^. 
Usually  the  grate  cleaner  stands  under  the  machine  and  works  at  the 
traveling  belt  of  grates  as  it  comes  down  to  pass  up  again.  He  uses 
an  air  hammer  to  chip  off  the  roasted  ore.  The  accompanying 
illustration  (plate  5)  shows  a  man  engaged  in  this  work  under  condi- 
tions more  favorable  than  sometimes  obtain.  Often  he  stands  below 
and  works  at  the  grates  as  they  come  down  over  his  head.  In  one  of 
these  buildings  the  cleaning  is  done  by  means  of  a  long-handled  rod 
which  lets  the  man  stand  farther  off,  but  the  best  arrangement  is  a 
mechanical  cleaner  attached  to  the  grate.  This  was  being  tested  in 
the  East  Helena  plant  and  seemed  to  work  admirably.  Grate 
cleaning  may  be  entirely  done  away  with  if  the  charge  can  be  so 
made  up  as  to  fall  off  clean  from  the  grate.  In  the  Murray  smelter 
they  had  succeeded  in  doing  this  and,  at  the  time  the  plant  was 
visited,  they  were  not  cleaning  their  grates  at  all.  In  other  plants 
they  sometimes  try  to  prevent  the  charge  sticking  by  first  coveiing 
the  grate  with  lime,  and  though  this  means  very  dusty  grate  cleaning 
the  dust  is  of  course  not  poisonous.  However,  when  lime  is  added 
to  the  charge,  the  resulting  cake  is  very  brittle  and  that  makes  condi- 
tions at  the  discharge  bad. 

The  next  danger  point  is  at  the  discharge^  If  the  cake  comes  oft' 
clear  and  falls  far  down  outside  the  building  into  a  car  where  a  spray 
of  water  plays  on  it,  nobody  is  endangered.  This  arrangement  is  seen 
in  several  plants.  But  in  others  a  man  must  be  stationed  at  the 
grate  to  push  the  cake  off  and  even  at  the  car  below  to  receive  the 
cakes.  The  enormous  evolution  of  sulphur  fumes  makes  the  discharge 
a  very  trying  place  to  work,  to  say  nothing  of  the  really  dangerous 
dust,  and  unfortunately  the  sulphur  fumes  and  the  dust  are  some- 
times allowed  to  enter  the  buildings,  too. 


Bulletin  No.  14-1  —  Labor- 


PLATE  5.— BELT  OF  EMPTY  GRATES  OF  A   DWIGHT-LLOYD   MACHINE. 


The  roasted  cakes  have  dropped  off  and  the  man  is  chipping  off  the  fragments  which 
still  stick  to  the  grates.  This  is  a  very  much  better  installation  than  many,  and  the  man 
is  not  so  much  exposed  to  the  dust  as  he  v^ould  be  were  he  standing  below. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN   SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  6o 

The  following  descriptions  give  the  worst  and  the  best  Dwight- 
Lloyd  departments  that  were  seen: 

No.  17.  The  Dwight-Lloyd  building  is  unusually  free  from  sulphur 
fumes,  but  the  floor  is  dry  and  dust}^  The  charge  is  damp  and  falls 
without  any  dust  from  a  belt  conveyor  into  a  hopper.  There  is  no 
apparent  escape  of  fumes  at  the  fire  box.  The  cakes  drop  off  more 
completely  than  in  any  other  place  and  leave  the  grid  so  clean  that 
no  chipping  is  required  unless  the  charge  has  been  badly  mixed.  The 
discharge  takes  place  outside  of  the  building,  the  cake  falling  the  dis- 
tance of  two  stories  to  a  freight  car  below,  where  a  spray  of  water  is 
playing.  Nobody  is  required  either  at  the  discharge  or  below  except 
to  inspect  from  time  to  time. 

No.  19.  This  is  much  the  worst  Dwight-Lloyd  building  in  the 
country.  The  lowest  floor  is  covered  with  flue  dust  because  the  flues 
running  through  here  are  emptied  from  hoppers.  Heaps  of  it  lie 
about  waiting  to  be  mixed  into  charges  for  the  machines.  The  sec- 
ond floor  where  the  empty  grates  pass  down  is  extremely  dusty.  The 
grate  cleaner  stands  under  the  belt  of  grates,  cleaning  them  with  an 
air  hammer.  As  there  are  many  machines  in  a  row,  the  air  is  full  of 
dust  from  this  cleaning.  On  the  upper  floor,  where  the  roasting  goes 
on,  the  dust  is  thick,  but  there  is  very  little  SOj.  There  is  a  hood 
over  the  flame,  but  it  is  only  a  fire  box  with  no  exhaust,  and  it  is  easy 
to  see  the  fumes  escaping  under  the  edge.  Out  on  a  balcony  near 
the  discharge  lie  heaps  of  poorl}?^  sintered  ore;  two  men  stand  on  the 
balcony  breaking  apart  cakes  which  have  stuck  together,  and  on  a 
platform  below  stand  two  more  men  to  detach  the  cakes  and  make 
them  drop  into  a  car  below.  No  water  is  used  here,  and  there  was  so 
much  dust  in  the  air  that  after  half  a  minute  out  on  the  balcony  the 
paper  of  a  notebook  was  covered  with  dust.  On  the  top  floor  the 
conditions  are  rather  better,  for  there  is  no  dust  where  the  charge 
comes  down  on  the  grates.  The  floor,  however,  was  very  dusty. 
A  man  was  eating  his  lunch  up  here  and  the  lunch  pails  of  the  other 
men  were  standing  all  about.  There  is  no  water  for  washing  in  this 
building. 

BLAST  FURNACES. 

The  blast  furnace  is  a  tall,  narrow  shaft  filled  with  charge;  at  the 
base  air  is  blown  in  and  the  fire  rages,  the  charge  reacts  and  melts,  and 
settles  in  a  bath  of  several  layers,  while  the  gases,  dust,  and  fume  pass 
up  through  the  charge  and  out  of  the  stack.  From  the  crucible  below 
the  shaft  the  melted  mass  is  tapped  out  according  to  whether  the 
lower  layer  of  lead  or  the  upper  layer  of  slag  is  to  be  removed.  Slag 
comes  out  at  the  top  of  the  crucible  level  and  any  matte  comes  with 
it,  while  the  lead  is  drawn  off  from  the  very  bottom  through  a  well 
which  is  sunk  down  to  the  bottom  through  the  side  of  the  crucible. 

31080°— Bull.  141—14 3 


34  BULLETIISr    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

Blast  furnaces  may  be  small,  round  affairs  smelting  30  tons  a  day, 
or  any  size  up  to  the  big  rectangular  furnaces  which  smelt  250  tons  a 
day.  The  little  furnaces  may  be  kept  in  blast  a  few  days  or  weeks  and 
then  allowed  to  cool  down,  but  with  the  big  furnaces  it  is  a  serious 
thing  to  put  one  entirely  out  of  blast,  and  good  economy  demands 
that  a  furnace  shall  run  for  months  or  even  years  without  fully  draw- 
ing the  fire. 

A  *' slag-eye"  is  a  small  blast  furnace  built  to  volatilize  lead.  The 
temperature  must  be  much  higher,  especially  on  the  surface,  than  in 
an  ordinary  blast  furnace,  and,  of  course,  there  wdl  be  more  fumes. 
As  the  air  rushes  in  at  the  feed  door,  there  is  no  escape  of  fumes  here, 
but  the  slag,  mixed  with  the  lead  which  has  escaped  volatilization, 
flows  out  continuously  into  a  settling  basin,  which  fumes  aU  the  time. 
The  lead  sinks  to  the  bottom  and  the  slag  overflows  into  a  pot  of 
water. 

There  are  two  points  of  special  danger  about  a  blast  furnace: 
The  charge  floor,  from  which  the  charge  or  mass  of  prepared  ore  is 
emptied  into  the  furnace,  and  the  tapping  floor,  where,  at  different 
levels,  the  melted  slag,  matte,  and  lead  are  drawn  off.  At  both  of 
these  danger  points  the  risk  from  dust  and  fumes  may  be  much  les- 
sened if  the  management  is  really  in  earnest  about  reducing  this  risk, 
but  at  both  many  dangerous  conditions  were  found. 

There  are  several  methods  of  feeding  or  charging  the  furnaces. 
For  little  furnaces  the  charge  is  best  shoveled  in  at  the  top  of  the 
shaft  on  what  is  known  as  the  charge  floor.  The  shaft  usually  has 
one  or  more  openings  with  covers  which  can  be  taken  away  to  let 
the  men  dump  or  shovel  in  the  components  of  the  charge  and  the 
coke  for  fuel.  Large  furnaces  commonly  have  their  flues  leading 
away  just  below  the  level  of  the  charge  or  feed  floor,  at  one  side  or  end 
of  the  furnace,  and  this  leaves  the  charge  floor  quite  free  for  the 
coming  and  going  of  big  cars  which  bring  the  charge  and  dump  it 
into  the  open  shaft  as  the  bottom  of  the  car  swings  open.  A  feed 
floor  of  this  kind  is  shown  in  illustration  No.  6.  Artificial  drafts  are 
supposed  to  hold  the  stream  of  furnace  gas  in  the  flue  and  to  draw  in 
a  large  amount  of  fresh  air  as  well.  In  this  way  when  all  is  working 
well  the  fume  is  led  away  to  the  bag  house  and  coUected  to  smelt 
again.  Feed  floors  are  bad  when  charges  are  dry,  when  fumes 
escape  from  the  charge  doors,  and  when  fumes  from  the  slag  pot  and 
matte  kettle  on  the  tapping  floor  below  can  come  up  through  the 
floor  or  the  windows  and  poison  the  air. 

The  following  are  some  actual  conditions  seen  on  the  feed  floors  in 
various  plants: 

No.  2.  Refinery,  sj^ecializing  in  scrap  and  dross. — There  are  two 
blast  furnaces,  charged  from  the  second  story  of  an  old  building, 
crowded  and  dark,  with  an  old  wooden  floor.     The  place  is  very 


LEAD  POISONTiSrG  IX  SMELTING  AXD  EEFIXIXG  LEAD.  35 

dusty.  Piles  of  crushed  matte  and  heaps  of  dross  and  refuse  he 
about  the  charge  floor,  all  dry  and  powdery.  The  feed  door  is  large, 
4^  by  3  feet,  and  is  up  about  at  the  level  of  a  man's  shoulder,  so  that 
the  charge  must  be  hfted  and  shoveled  in  with  the  charge  feeder's 
face  right  in  front  of  the  opening. 

No.  5.  Refinery  for  western  hullion. — The  blast  furnace  feed  floor 
Ls  fairly  clean,  the  feeding  doors  are  m  the  shaft  at  the  level  of  the 
floor  and  when  the  door  is  open  the  inward  draft  is  apparently  good, 
yet  there  was  bad  leaking  either  from  these  doors  or  from  cracks  in 
the  shaft,  for  the  an-  was  irritating  and  full  of  the  odor  of  garlic, 
denoting  the  presence  of  arsenic  or  antimony.  The  charge  feeders 
were  shovelmg  briskly  and  stirring  up  quantities  of  dust,  although 
the  superintendent  said  there  was  no  reason  why  the  charges  should 
not  be  thoroughly  dampened. 

No.  If..  Refinery  for  western  huUion. — There  is  only  one  blast  furnace 
for  working  up  scrap  lead,  dross,  and  flue  dust.  The  room  is  full  of 
very  fine  bluish  lead  dust  because  a  dust  chamber  opens  directly 
into  it.  Piles  of  all  kinds  of  lead  refuse  lie  about.  The  furnace  is 
charged  through  doors  in  the  stack  from  a  platform,  12  feet  above  the 
floor,  and  the  charge  is  dusty  or  damp  as  it  happens.  The  storage 
bins  are  out  in  the  open  and  if  there  has  been  rain  the  charge  is  damp, 
if  the  weather  has  been  dry  it  is  dusty.  The  furnace  was  being  cleaned 
at  the  time,  a  frightfully  dusty  piece  of  work,  so  it  was  impossible  to 
teU  how  the  draft  would  work. 

No.  13.  Large  western  smelter. — The  feed  floor  is  decidedly  bad, 
almost  aU  the  furnace  doors  leaking,  one  quite  shockingly.  The 
charges  were  dry  and  the  feeders  raised  a  good  deal  of  dust,  but  it 
was  said  to  be  impossible  to  sprinkle  in  that  weather,  the  thermometer 
being  5°  below  zero. 

No.  15.  Large  western  smelter. — The  charge  floor  was  bad,  smeUing 
strongly  of  garlic,  yet  the  manager  insists  that  there  is  no  arsenic 
and  only  a  smaU  amount  of  antimony  in  the  ore.  There  was  an 
enormous  escape  of  fume  from  the  loosely  hanging  sheets  which  close 
the  feed  doors  in  the  stack.  The  inward  suction  is  good  when  the 
door  is  open,  but  the  doors  are  so  arranged  that  there  is  one  on  each 
side  of  a  stack,  and  while  chargmg  is  going  on  at  one,  clouds  of  fume 
pour  out  through  the  other.  Thus  one  of  two  doors  is  leaking 
ah  the  time.     The  charges  were  damp  and  the  floor  was  clean. 

No.  19.  Large  western  smelter. — This  was  in  a  worse  condition 
than  any  other  feed  floor  visited,  frightfully  smoky  and  smeUing 
strongly  of  garhc.  The  feed  doors  in  the  floor  are  large,  about 
4  by  10  feet,  and  only  partiaUy  closed  b}'  ragged,  broken  pieces  of 
iron  which  are  not  nearly  long  enough  to  cover  the  ends.  Every' 
furnace  was  leaking  and  one  was  simply  belching  forth  fumes.  Cars 
wdth  charges  run   along:   a   track   over   the   furnaces.     The  feeders 


36  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

stand  beside  the  car,  open  the  hopper  gate  and  let  the  charge  fall 
through,  a  good  deal  of  it  falling  on  either  side  of  the  door  and  having 
to  be  shoveled  in  after  the  car  has  passed  on.  This  is  a  necessary 
feature  of  furnace  feeding  in  some  plants,  in  order  to  spread  the 
charge  properly.  The  condition  on  the  floor  was  made  unusually 
bad  at  the  time  of  this  inspection  because  one  of  the  furnaces  was 
being  "trimmed  off."  The  blast  had  been  turned  off  this  furnace, 
but  it  was  still  hot  and  fumes  and  dust  were  abundant.  Sixteen 
men  were  working  on  the  charge  floor  at  the  time. 

Conditions  on  the  feed  floor  are  so  dependent  on  the  proper  work- 
ing of  the  furnaces  that  it  is  impossible  to  pronounce  absolutely  on 
any  single  plant  unless  it  is  visited  repeatedly.  The  very  best  blast 
furnace  is  subject  to  accidents;  none  of  them  work  well  all  the  time. 
The  following  are  plants  in  which  the  feed  floor  is  very  well  constructed 
and  at  the  time  of  the  inspection  everything  was  working  normally. 

No.  10.  Large  Mississippi  Valley  smelter. — The  charges,  well 
dampened,  are  conveyed  in  hopper  cars  to  a  large,  open,  clean  feed 
floor,  with  charge  doors  in  the  floor.  The  whole  process  is  automatic, 
the  car  stops  over  a  charge  door,  the  mechanician  who  stands  at  a 
distance  opens  the  hopper  door  and  the  charge  drops  down.  The 
down  suction  was  excellent  at  the  time  and  there  was  no  escape  of 
smoke,  though  the  charge  doors  were  all  left  open.  The  floor  was 
scrupulously  clean  and  well  dampened. 

No.  17.  Large  western  smelter. — Here  there  is  a  similar  arrange- 
ment of  floor,  only  the  charge  doors  are  closed  when  not  in  use. 
The  floor  was  clean  and  wet  and  there  was  no  escape  of  fume  during 
charging,  which  is  automatic,  but  a  strong  wind  was  driving  the 
smoke  up  from  the  tapping  floor  below. 

No.  18.  Large  western  smelter. — The  feed  floor  here  is  like  the  two 
former,  the  doors  being  left  open  all  the  time.  The  down  draft  was 
good  and  there  was  no  escape  of  fume  from  most  of  the  furnaces, 
but  two  were  smoking  badly.  The  dumping  of  the  charge  is  not 
automatic,  but  must  be  managed  at  the  feed  door  and  the  man  there 
must  also  shovel  in  the  part  of  the  charge  which  falls  at  the  sides  of 
the  door.  There  were  traces  of  garlic  in  the  air.  The  floor  was 
well  watered  in  spots,  yet  at  one  end  a  man  was  sweeping  it  dry. 

With  good  management  the  feed  floor  can  be  kept  clean  and  free 
from  objectionable  fume  and  dust  except  during  the  "blowing  out'' 
of  a  furnace.  This  is  an  accident  which  may  come  so  rarely  as 
to  be  fairly  negligible  or  so  frequently  as  to  be  almost  a  part  of 
the  day's  work.  When  the  charge  for  some  reason  sticks  to  the 
side,  forming  what  the  workmen  call  "hangs"  or  "scaffolds,"  the 
blast  of  air  from  the  tuyeres  forces  a  channel  through  and  rushes  up 
the  stack,  filling  the  feed  floor  with  fume.  This  channel  may  be 
plugged  up  Avith  siliceous  material  after  the  blast  has  been  turned  off, 


S.'D. 


LEAD  POISONIN^G  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD.  37 

or  it  may  be  necessary  to  stop  work  and  dig  out  the  "hang."  Even 
when  water  is  used  tliggiug  is  dusty,  and  often  it  is  done  while  the 
furnace  is  hot  to  save  time.  This  description  of  the  work  was  given 
by  a  man  famihar  with  furnace  cleaning  or  "wrecking:" 

AJl  blast  furnaces  require  more  or  less  cleaning  out  after  a  run  which  has  clogged 
the  inside  of  crucible  and  shaft.  This  is  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  tasks  in  con- 
nection ■with  furnace  operations.  It  is  often  done  with  the  blast  merely  turned  off 
(cleaning  breast  and  well)  or  with  the  furnace  run  down  part  way  (cleaning  "hang"' 
in  shaft)  or  with  the  end  jackets  out  (cleaning  shaft),  and  is  inevitably  a  hot  and  dusty 
and  arduous  job.  Hours  spent  in  cleaning  shafts  are  not  easily  forgotten.  AA'ith 
bar  and  pick  we  pry  and  strike  at  the  softer  spots;  then  we  get  the  big  ram  lined  up 
and  swing  its  500-pound  weight  against  the  gad  that  pierces  and  cracks  the  crust 
inch  by  inch;  the  furnace  walls  are  too  hot  to  touch,  the  scanty  platform  sways  and 
bends,  clouds  of  dust  and  steam  surge  and  blind  and  choke  us  with  every  lump  that 
falls;  every  half  hour  the  four  men  hustle  out  and  four  reliefs  climb  do^vn  and  rush 
the  job.  Furnaces  are  usually  pretty  tractable,  but  blowholes  and  blowing  outs, 
bum  outs,  and  closed  channels  make  them  interesting  enough  every  now  and  then. 

TAPPING   FLOORS. 

On  the  tapping  floor  of  a  blast  furnace,  or  at  the  front,  are  the 
fm'nace  men,  the  tappers  who  draw  out  the  lead,  matte,  and  slag  at 
interA^als,  the  unskilled  laborers  who  wheel  the  lead  away,  and  in 
larger  smelters  the  trainmen  who  take  away  by  motor  the  kettles 
of  matte  and  slag.  The  danger  on  the  tapping  floor  is  not  from  dust, 
but  from  fume.  The  lead  runs  out  at  a  low  red  or  a  bright  red  heat, 
fuming  always  more  or  less,  although  the  fumes  are  not  nearly  so 
conspicuous  as  those  from  slag  and  matte,  and  are  therefore  usually 
ignored  by  the  men  in  charge.  The  lead  pot  is  not  hooded,  though 
in  some  plants  the  molten  lead  is  covered  with  slaked  Kme.  The 
objection  to  a  hood  seems  to  be  that  it  would  get  in  the  man's  way 
when  he  skims  off  dross  or  poles  out  the  channel  to  free  it  from  dross. 

Slag  and  matte  as  they  run  out  into  the  settler  or  forehearth 
fume  thickly.  The  accompanj'ing  illustration  (plate  7)  shows  the 
extent  to  which  the  men  are  exposed  to  fumes  during  slag  tapping, 
even  when  conditions  are  fairly  good.  Slag  alone  usually  contains 
not  more  than  1  per  cent  of  lead,  but  may  contain  2  or  3  per  cent, 
depending  on  the  way  the  furnaces  run;  matte  from  13  to  20  per  cent. 
As  matte  fumes  far  more  than  lead,  matte  tapping  is  the  most 
dangerous  feature  of  this  part  of  the  work.  It  occurs  about  every 
40  minutes  and  always  dense  clouds  of  white  fume  arise,  lasting  for 
several  minutes.  It  is  very  rare  to  find  the  hood  over  the  matte 
kettle  at  all  effective  in  carrying  off  these  fumes,  and  often  there  is  no 
attempt  to  hood  it  at  aU.  Even  where  there  is  a  hood  the  train  crew 
generally  puUs  the  kettle  out  before  it  has  stopped  fuming  and 
carries  it  off,  spreading  the  smoke  as  it  goes.  Slag  is  tapped  every 
10  minutes  or  so.  The  fumes  from  this  also  are  very  abundant,  but 
usually  the  slag  kettle  is  better  hooded  than  the  matte.     In  th-e 


38  BULLETIlSr    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

case  of  those  furnaces  which  are  not  provided  with  a  settler  the 
mixture  of  shig  and  matte  must  be  taken  at  once  before  it  has  had 
time  to  cool  and  pom'ed  into  the  settling  furnace.  This  means 
an  enormous  escape  of  fumes.  The  three  illustrations  immediately 
following  (plates  8,  9,  and  10)  show  the  conditions  under  which 
tapping  is  carried  on  in  some  of  the  plants  visited. 

A  few  instances  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  way  in  which  the  work 
is  carried  on  in  different  plants. 

No.  6.  Large  refinery  for  western  hullion. — The  blast  furnace  is  in  an 
inclosed  room  with  a  low  ceiUng  and  little  natural  ventilation.  Lead 
and  arsenical  antimonial  slag  are  tapped  here.  There  is  no  hood 
over  the  lead  tap  and  over  the  slag  tap  there  is  a  shaft  running  up 
to  the  roof,  but  without  any  exhaust,  so  it  is  very  ineffective.  The 
air  was  fuU  of  the  odor  of  garlic. 

No.  13.  Large  western  smelter. — As  one  approaches  the  tapping  floor 
great  clouds  of  fume  can  be  seen  coming  out  from  under  the  long  roof. 
The  floor  is  open  on  three  sides  and  covered  with  a  roof  which  has  a 
wide  stack  over  each  tapping  floor.  These  stacks  are  supposed  to 
carry  off  the  fumes  and  may  do  so  fairly,  well  in  still  weather,  but  on 
a  windy  day  the  fumes  blow  in  all  directions.  A  little  additional 
protection  is  afforded  by  a  shield  of  corrugated  iron  hung  at  one  side 
of  the  runway  and  pot  for  slag  and  matte,  but  the  whole  construction 
is  far  too  open  to  admit  of  any  control  of  drafts  and  currents.  The 
odor  of  garlic  was  strong,  and  the  ore  handled  here  is  often  rich  in 
arsenic.  There  is  no  forehearth  on  these  furnaces,  so  slag  and  matte 
run  out  into  an  open  kettle  and  are  wheeled  off  to  the  settling  furnace 
while  still  hot  and  fuming. 

Better  conditions  than  this  are  found  in  some  blast  furnaces,  but 
the  tapping  floor  is  not  a  safe  place  in  any  of  the  plants  that  were 
visited,  and  this  is  due  partly  to  a  very  open  construction  which  fails  to 
shut  out  varying  winds,  and  partly  to  the  lack  of  properly  fitted  hoods 
with  a  system  of  exhaust  ventilation.  It  is  strange  that  even  the 
most  modern  smelters  have  been  built  with  dependence  on  natural 
ventilation  to  carry  off  fumes,  although  any  ventilation  expert  wUI 
say  that  such  an  arrangement  is  at  the  mercy  of  wind  and  weather. 

No.  16.  A  large  western  smelter. — This  has  a  fairly  good  arrange- 
ment of  hoods,  one  large  hood  covering  trough,  settler,  slag  car,  and 
matte  kettle.  When  tapping  and  when  closing  the  tap,  the  man 
must  go  close  to  the  furnace,  but  once  the  stream  is  started,  he  steps 
out  beyond  the  edge  of  the  hood.  The  fumes  from  both  slag  and 
matte  passed  up  through  the  stack  very  completely,  but  it  happened 
to  be  a  still  day,  and  the  men  say  that  on  a  windy  day  the  state  of 
things  is  quite  different. 

Other  large  smelters  have  equally  good  tapping  floors,  but  all  are 
open  and  are  dependent  for  their  successful  working  on  the  wind. 


Bulletin  No.  141  — Labor. 


PLATE   8.— TAPPING    FLOOR    OF    A    BLAST    FURNACE    IN    THE   AMERICAN    SMELTING 
&  REFINING  CO.'S  PLANT  AT  MURRAY,  UTAH. 

The  arrangement  In  the  Midvale  plant  is  exactly  the  same.  Slag  is  pouring  out  into  the  forehearth 
and  overflowing  into  the  slag  pot  in  front.  The  day  being  quiet,  no  fumes  are  escaping.  This  is, 
however,  not  the  case  at  all  times.  When  the  wind  blows  in  toward  the  furnace  the  tapping  floor 
seen  in  the  left  corner  may  be  thickwith  fumes.  The  side  of  the  building  facing  these  furnaces 
is  all  open. 


Bulletin  No.  141  — Labor. 


PLATE   9.— MATTE   TAPPING    IN    THE    AMERICAN    SMELTING    &    REFINING    CO.'S 
PLANT  AT  MURRAY,  UTAH. 

This  is  on  the  other  side  of  the  same  furnace.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  though  the  hooding  protection 
Is  adequate  at  times  a  puff  of  wind  could  easily  scatterthe  fumes  from  this  matte  kettle.  These 
hoods  are,  however,  better  than  those  in  any  of  the  other  smelters  that  were  visited  except  those 

Qt   ^/l  iri  \ja  I  o 


at  Midvale. 


=5    4^ : 


LEAD  POISOXIXG  IX  SMELTING  AXD  EEFIXIXG  LEAD.  39 

The  consequence  is  that  in  all  smelters  the  tapping  floor  is  looked 
upon  as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  spots,  if  not  the  most  so.  One  plant 
in  which  careful  records  have  been  kept  has  more  trouble  here  than 
anywhere,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  23  out  of  54  blast-furnace  men 
who  were  examined  showed  evidence  of  plumbism.  In  still  another, 
21  out  of  65  cases  of  lead  poisonmg  in  the  plant  came  from  the  front 
of  the  blast  furnace,  though  the  men  here  formed  only  one-sixth  of 
the  whole  force.  Eefineries  do  not  have  so  large  a  blast-furnace 
Installation  as  smelters,  but  some  of  the  worst  conditions  encountered 
on  charge  floors  and  tapping  floors  were  in  refineries.  Five  out  of  the 
seven  worst  instances  are  in  refinerie.s. 

Two  of  the  plants  visited  make  subHmed  white  lead,  basic  sul- 
phate of  lead,  in  addition  to  their  other  products.  The  method 
employed  is  essentially  smelting  in  Scotch  hearths,  collecting  the 
"blue  fume"  from  these  hearths,  and  smelting  it  in  blast  furnaces 
of  the  type  known  as  the  ''slag  eye."  ^  These  are  kept  at  a  high 
temperature,  especially  on  the  surface,  for  the  object  is  to  cause  as 
much  volatilization  as  possible.  The  '"white  fume"  from  the  slag 
eyes  is  collected  in  a  bag  house  and  consists  of  lead  sulphate  with  a 
varying  proportion   of   oxides. 

As  the  three  worst  features  of  lead  smelting,  the  ore  hearth,  the 
blast  furnace,  and  the  bag  house  are  the  essential  elements  in  this 
process,  it  foUows  that  the  making  of  sublimed  white  lead  is  an 
extremely  hazardous  occupation.  In  both  plants  bag  shaking  is 
done  by  hand,  and  in  both  the  packing  of  the  hght  and  fluffy  powder 
is  very  dusty.  The  men  look  on  the  ''paint"  department  as  the 
worst  place  of  all  to  work  in.  In  one  of  these  two  plants  16  men  in 
the  sublimed  white  lead  department  had  been  recently  examined 
and  5  were  found  to  show  signs  of  plumbism,  while  11  had  the  lead 
line.  In  the  other  plant  it  was  not  possible  to  get  any  informa- 
tion from  the  physician,  but  12  men  were  foimd  who  had  recently 
suffered  from  acute  plumbism.  There  are  45  men  regularly  employed 
in  this  department  in  the  plant. 

PREVALENCE  OF  LEAD  FUMES  AND  DUST  ON  CHARGE  AND  TAPPING  FLOORS. 

Collis  speaks  of  the  dangers  of  both  dust  and  fumes  on  the  blast- 
furnace charge  floor.-  At  one  factory  he  found  that  three  out  of  seven 
chargers  had  marked  tremor,  and  one  of  these  had  extensor  paralysis, 
while  aU  seven  had  the  lead  Ime.  In  another  factory  partial  blocking 
of  the  flue  and  escape  of  furnace  fume  on  the  charge  floor  resulted  in 
three  cases  of  lead  poisoning.  Collis  quotes  the  analysis  of  the  fumes 
at  the  tapping  floor  of  a  blast  furnace  wliich  was  given  ui  the  amiual 

'  For  description,  see  p.  3-i. 

-  Lead  Smelting.    Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials 
Containing  Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Tollis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910,  p.  7. 


40  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BTJEEAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

report  of  the  chief  inspector  of  factories  and  workshops  in  Great 
Britain  in  1900.  It  was  calculated  that  on  this  floor  a  man  might 
in  eight  hours  breathe  in  7.38  grains  of  lead  (0,478  g.)  ^ 

Hofman  ^  gives  the  average  lead  content  in  the  down  comers  of  a 
blast  furnace  as  47^  per  cent,  and  of  the  dust  on  the  roof  of  a  blast- 
furnace building  as  27.1  per  cent. 

Miiller  places  blast-furnace  tapping  in  the  class  of  greatest  danger 
if  fumes  are  allowed  to  escape,  but  if  proper  devices  are  installed  it  may 
be  classed  with  the  comparatively  safe  work.  All  fumes  on  the  tap- 
ping floor,  whether  lead,  slag,  or  matte,  must  be  regarded  as  a  menace. 
The  managers  of  American  smelters  usually  acknowledge  the  danger 
from  matte  fumes,  but  look  on  the  fumes  from  the  lead  tap  as  negli- 
gible, because  they  are  never  very  heavy,  and  in  fact  are  visible  only 
close  to  the  pot.  The  fumes  from  the  slag  pot  they  consider  practi- 
cally safe,  because  there  is  supposed  to  be  less  than  1  per  cent  of  lead  in 
the  slag.  Both  these  opinions  Miiller  regards  as  very  erroneous.  The 
fumes  from  the  lead  pot  are  practically  pure  lead  oxide,  and  as  for  the 
slag  pot  the  fumes  contain  a  much  higher  proportion  of  lead  than  does 
the  slag  itself.  He  has  found  by  analysis  of  slag  fumes  that  there 
may  be  12.3  per  cent  of  lead,  8.7  per  cent  of  zinc,  and  4.2  per  cent  SO3. 

Hofman^  finds  far  greater  quantities  of  lead  than  this  in  the  funics 
from  a  boiling  slag  pot  which  may  contain  no  less  than  41  per  cent 
lead  monoxide,  26.2  per  centPbSO^,  and  4.8  per  cent  arsenious  oxide. 

Miiller  has  also  analyzed  samples  of  dust  which  collected  between  the 
tap  for  lead  and  the  tap  for  slag  and  found  it  to  be  17.4  per  cent  lead. 

Matte  comes  out  under  high  pressure,  very  hot,  giving  off  thick  white 
fumes,  consisting  chiefly  of  PbS,  which  changes  almost  at  once  to 
PbSO^.  Miiller's  analysis  of  these  fumes  gave  18.8  per  cent  lead,  10.9 
per  cent  zinc,  5.9  per  cent  SO3.  Matte  fumes  are,  of  course,  worse 
than  slag  fumes,  but  not  nearly  so  abundant,  because  matte  is  usu- 
ally tapped  every  40  minutes,  while  slag  is  tapped  every  10  minutes. 

Miiller's  comment  on  the  hooding  devices  in  use  on  tapping  floors  is 
that  they  are  generally  useless  and  expensive  decorations.  That  those 
in  his  own  plant  are  effective  is  shown  by  the  decrease  in  the  number 
of  cases  of  lead  poisoning,  which  fell  from  10  among  30  men  in  1897 
to  none  during  the  10  years  from  1898  to  1908.  When  a  visit  was 
made  to  his  plant  in  1910  it  was  found  that  the  tapping  floor  was  in 
a  well-inclosed  and  very  clean  building,  with  whitewashed  walls,  and 
that  the  dependence  was  upon  artificial  ventilation  altogether.  Over 
the  lead  tap  and  the  tap  for  slag  and  matte  a  large  hood  was  fitted,  the 
edges  of  which  came  down  to  within  3  feet  of  the  floor.  This  was 
connected  with  the  flue  system  and  there  was  a  strong  suction  in  the 

»  Great  Britain,  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Factories  and  Workshops,  1900,  p.  438. 
3  II.  O.  Hofman.     Metallurgy  of  Lead,  p.  379.    New  York,  1899,  5th  ed. 
3  Loc.  cit. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD. 


41 


sliaf  t.  A  window  in  this  hood  allowed  the  workman  to  open  and  close 
the  tap  with  a  long-handled  rod.  The  workman  was  not  allowed  to 
wheel  away  lead  pot,  slag,  or  matte  till  the  contents  had  cooled  to  at 
least  a  dull  rod  heat. 

The  statistics  of  lead  poisoning  among  blast-furnace  men  in  the 
great  smelter  atTarnowitz  show  the  effect  of  installing  proper  exhaust 
ventilation  over  the  taps.  The  improvements  were  begun  in  1888, 
but  were  carried  out  chiefly  in  1890.^ 

CASES   OF   LEAD    POISONING   AMONG   BLAST-FURNACE    MEN   IN    THE    SMELTER    AT 
TARNOWITZ,  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  BY  YEARS,  1887-88  TO  1891-92. 


Cases  of  lead  poisoning. 


Year. 


I  Number  of  | 
employees.  I 


Number. 


1887-88 
1888-89 
1889-90 
1890-91 
1891-92 


IW 
130 
140 
138 
124 


136 
63 


Rate  per  100 
employees. 


82.9 
48.5 
41.4 
13.8 
19.4 


SETTLING  FURNACES. 

In  place  of  a  forehearth  or  settler  at  the  mouth  of  a  blast  furnace, 
certain  plants  have  installed  a  settling  furnace  for  the  separation  of 
ina.tte  and  slag.  There  are  several  disadvantages  in  this  arrange- 
ment. Instead  of  the  matte  being  tapped  only  at  intervals  of  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  matte  and  slag  are  tapped  together  every  10  or 
15  minutes,  and  the  great  open  pot  must  be  wheeled  away  red  hot 
and  fuming  to  be  emptied  at  once  into  the  furnace.  No  precautions 
against  fumes  at  any  stage,  including  the  final  tapping  of  matte  from 
the  settling  furnace,  are  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  three  plants  where 
this  method  is  in  use.  In  one,  which  is  fortunately  possessed  of  a 
careful  and  accurate  medical  adviser,  it  was  found  that  6  cases  of 
lead  poisoning  developed  in  as  many  weeks  among  36  motor  men 
and  furnace  tenders  engaged  in  transporting  and  handling  the  slag 
and  matte. 

Hofman's  analysis  of  fumes  from  a  reverberatory  settling  furnace 
for  matte  showed  31  per  cent  lead  monoxide  and  2.3  per  cent  arsenic. 

SOFTENING  AND  REFINING   FURNACES. 

After  smelting  the  lead  is  ready  for  the  finishing  processes,  of  which 
softening  and  refining  come  first.  Reverberatory  furnaces  are  used 
for  this  process.  Hand  charging  of  this  type  of  furnace  is  becoming 
obsolete  and  in  a  modem  plant  the  workmen  have  merely  to  place 
the  bar  of  lead  on  a  conveyor  or  run  the  already  molten  lead  into  the 
furnace  through  a  pipe  or  spout.     The  accompanying  illustration 


J  Die  Bekampfung  der  Bleigefahr  in  Bleihiitten.     Rich.  Miiller,  Jena,  190S,  p.  154. 


42  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

(plate  11)  shows  one  method  of  mechanical  charging  in  such  a  furnace. 
The  furnaces  are  emptied  tlirough  tapping  the  lead  out  or  by  a,  siphon. 
During  the  process  of  softening  and  refining  more  or  less  fume  escapes 
at  the  time  of  drawing  drosses  and  skims  and  sometimes  at  the  lead 
pot.     The  red-hot  skim  also  fumes  after  it  has  been  drawn  out. 

These  are  two  instances  of  such  furnaces : 

No.  2.  The  softening  furnaces  for  the  removal  of  copper,  arsenic, 
and  antimony  are  in  a  dirty  but  fairly  well-ventilated  room.  They 
are  charged  by  hand  from  the  front.  A  man  standing  at  a  distance 
of  8  feet  holds  a  long-handled  spade  with  its  end  resting  on  the  edge 
of  the  furnace  door.  Two  men  come  up  in  turn  to  the  door,  place  a 
pig  of  bullion  on  the  shovel  and  the  shoveler  pushes  it  into  the  fur- 
nace. There  is  no  hood  over  this  door,  but  the  inward  draft  seems 
good.  Later,  when  charging  is  over,  the  men  open  the  door  and  rake 
the  charge  and  during  this  process  fumes  escape.  The  lead  runs  out 
into  the  zincing  kettles,  the  hot  slag  is  skimmed  off,  and  thrown  on 
the  floor.     There  is  no  attempt  to  avoid  either  fumes  or  dust. 

No.  5.  Here  charging  is  done  mechanically  from  a  traveling  belt. 
The  furnace  is  first  raised  to  a  low  heat  and  the  copper  removed,  then 
to  a  much  higher  temperature.  The  doors  are  then  opened  and  the 
furnace  gradually  cooled  down.  During  this  time  white  fumes 
escaped  from  the  four  openings  and  though  their  general  direction 
was  upward  to  the  window  in  the  roof  some  eddied  down  driven  by 
the  drafts  of  air  in  all  directions.  A  man  stood  about  8  feet  from  the 
door  and  raked  out  the  red-hot  arsenical  and  antimonial  skim  which 
fell  into  a  pot  and  splashed  on  the  floor.  This  gave  off  thick  white 
fumes  as  the  man  dragged  it  away  and  stood  it  at  one  side  to  cool. 
The  furnace  doors  are  left  open  three  hours  and  the  charge  skimmed 
from  time  to  time. 

The  same  sort  of  furnace  is  used  in  refineries  for  melting  old  lead. 
The  work  in  one  of  the  largest  of  this  class  of  refineries  (No.  7) 
is  done  in  a  large,  dark,  iU- ventilated,  and  extremely  dusty  room, 
the  floor  of  which  is  covered  with  heaps  of  dross  and  scrap. 
There  are  no  hoods  over  the  charge  door  or  work  door,  and  win- 
dows in  the  room  are  relied  upon  to  carry  off  the  fumes.  Charges 
are  mixed  here  and  fed  in  by  hand,  and  at  least  once  an  hour  the 
furnace  man  opens  the  work  door  and  rakes  the  charge.  He  stands 
about  6  feet  away  but  well  within  the  fumes  w^hich  escape  in  great 
clouds  and  eddy  around  the  room  so  that  they  are  distinctly  per- 
ceptible at  a  distance  of  30  feet.  The  lead  flows  out  at  a  bright  red 
heat  into  an  unhooded  kettle. 

There  are  two  refineries  in  which  an  electrolytic  process  is  used  to 
obtain  pure  lead.  The  work  in  the  battery  room  is  dust  free  and 
not  accompanied  by  risk,  except  such  as  might  come  from  handling 
the  lead  sheets.     The  places  where  precautions  are  needed  are  at 


Bulletin  No.  141 — Labor. 


PLATE  11.— A  SOFTENING   FURNACE  IN    REFINERY,  WITH    MECHANICAL 

CHARGING. 


The  pigs  of  bullion  come  down  the  closed  chute  to  the  charge  door.     In  contrast  to  this 
excellent  device  is  the  carelessness  which  allows  heaps  of  dusty  dross  to  lie  on  the 

floor  nearthe  furnace. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  43 

the  kettle  where  scrap  lead  is  melted  for  the  starting  sheets,  in  cast- 
ing the  starting  sheets,  in  melting  up  the  old  sheets  and  drossing  the 
melting  kettles,  in  working  up  the  drosses  in  reverberatory  furnaces, 
and  above  all  in  handling  the  so-called  "anode  mud,"  the  product  of 
electrolysis.  This  wet  slime  or  sludge  is  said  to  consist  of  lead,  sil- 
ver, and  gold  in  metallic  form,  with  arsenic,  antimony,  and  copper 
in  compounds  as  yet  undetermined.  It  must  be  treated  in  rever- 
beratory furnaces,  and  in  preparation  for  this  it  is  dried  in  dust 
chambers.  Transporting  and  charging  this  dry  powder  is  very  dan- 
gerous, and  there  are  of  course  the  usual  dangers  from  the  furnaces. 
I 

j  DROSSING,  REMELTING,  AND   DESILVERIZING   KETTLES. 

I  Practically  all  lead  plants  have  open  cast-iron  kettles  for  holding 
the  lead  to  be  melted,  drossed,  desilverized,  or  purified.  The  tempera- 
ture has  ordinarily  no  occasion  to  rise  above  some  450°  C.  (842°  F.), 
the  melting  point  of  zinc.  As  this  is  below  even  a  low  red  heat, 
there  is  practically  no  volatiUzation  of  metal  and  no  production  of 
fume,  and  therefore  no  source  of  contamination  except  what  is  to  be 
expected  from  handhng  lead  or  leady  materials.  Lead  may  be 
charged  into  the  kettles  by  hand,  as  in  the  case  of  bars  and  sweep- 
ings, or  in  huge  slugs  hfted  by  power;  most  frequently  the  already 
molten  lead  is  run  in  through  spouts  or  pom-ed  in  from  a  lead  pot. 
Kettles  are  emptied  by  a  siphon  or  by  a  pipe  from  the  bottom  pro- 
vided with  a  turncock.  It  is  better  to  run  the  molten  lead  tkrough 
a  pipe  rather  than  a  trough,  especially  if  it  is  at  a  red  heat,  when  it 
may  fume. 

In  one  large  refiuery  there  are  no  hoods  over  the  charge  doors  or 
work  doore  of  the  softening  furnaces,  and  when  the  crust  is  skimmed 
and  the  lead  allowed  to  flow  out  fumes  escape  into  the  room.  The 
lead  flows  along  a  trough  to  the  desilverizing  kettle,  which  is  at  some 
distance  away,  and  therefore  the  lead  has  to  be  at  a  fuming  tempera- 
tm'e  or  it  would  partly  congeal  before  it  reached  the  kettle. 

Desilverizing  may  be,  and  in  fact  almost  always  is,  so  carried  on 
as  to  be  practically  free  from  dust  or  fumes.  The  only  danger  is 
from  the  lead  which  clings  to  the  men's  hands  and  which  is  pure 
metallic  lead  or  the  oxide. 

OHver  ^  says  it  is  rare  to  find  lead  poisoning  in  a  desilverizer,  and 
Miiller  placed  here  his  workmen  who  had  had  lead  poisoning,  con- 
sidering it  the  safest  part  of  the  plant. 

BY-PRODUCT   OR   RESIDUE    FURNACES. 

The  material  put  in  these  fm-naces  is  usually  solid.  It  is  first 
dumped  into  a  hopper  over  the  furnace,  then  let  into  the  furnace 
through  the  roof.     It  is  not  unusual  to  shovel  the  charge  in  through 

1  Dangerous  Trades,  p.  287. 


44  BULLETIN    OF   THE    BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

side  doors.  The  furnace  is  emptied  by  tapping  out  into  slag  pots, 
skimming  through  side  doors,  or  letting  the  lead  out  through  a  well. 

As  can  be  seen  by  the  illustration  (plate  12),  these  by-products  or 
residue  furnaces  may  be  a  prohfic  source  of  fumes  in  the  plant,  for 
there  is  seldom  much  effort  made  to  carry  off  the  fimaes  from  slag 
or  lead. 

The  arsenic  in  many  by-products  is  a  real  somce  of  trouble.  Men 
come  in  contact  with  it  in  a  variety  of  ways,  at  the  furnaces  as  fume 
or  dust,  but  more  especially  in  the  handling  of  the  stuff  and  in  getting 
it  from  one  place  to  another, 

]\latte  roasting  is  carried  on  only  in  large  quantities;  if  the  quan- 
tit}"  is  small,  the  matte  is  shipped  to  another  plant. 

A  copper  converter  for  the  recovery  of  copper  from  matte  is  a 
steel  shell  lined  with  refractory  material  with  holes  in  the  bottom, 
through  which  air  is  blown  to  oxidize  and  blow  away  sulphur  and 
lead,  leaving  the  copper.  The  converters  are  charged  usually  with 
liquid  matte. 

This  ''blowing"  process  is  of  course  productive  of  an  enormous 
amount  of  fume  which  contains  lead  as  sulphate  and  oxide,  and  the 
three  plants  which  use  this  process  have  not  succeeded  in  catching 
and  carr^dng  off  the  dangerous  fumes.  In  all  three  places  the  work 
is  very  bad  indeed.  On  going  over  the  records  of  one  of  these  refin- 
eries it  was  noticed  that  the  cases  of  lead  poisoning  rose  suddenly 
in  a  certain  year,  and  the  reason  given  for  this  increase  was  that  the 
copper  converters  were  installed  in  that  year.  The  following  descrip- 
tion will  illustrate  the  conditions  which  are  encountered  by  men 
employed  in  this  sort  of  work: 

Xo.  1.  The  converter  room  is  large,  with  a  high  ceiling  and  travel- 
ing cranes.  The  air  at  the  time  was  full  of  fumes,  almost  hiding 
the  motor  man  in  the  crane.  There  are  adjustable  hoods  over  the 
doors  of  the  converters;  these  are  lowered  when  blowing  begins  and 
turned  with  the  converter,  but  they  do  not  catch  the  fumes,  espe- 
cially at  the  beginning  of  blowing.  In  this  same  room  is  a  furnace 
for  holding  and  settling  matte  for  the  converter.  It  is  charged  from 
the  top,  the  opening  is  neither  closed  nor  hooded,  and  fumes  escape 
all  the  time, 

RETORTING  AND  CUPELLING  FURNACES. 

In  the  I'elining  of  lead  these  furnaces  are  an  important  link  in  the 
sequence  of  recoveiing  the  gold  and  silver.  They  are  both  quite 
neat  in  operation,  and  mth  proper  draft  and  ventilation  should  give 
no  offense.  The  rich  amalgam  of  zinc  and  lead  in  chunks  is  dropped 
into  the  retorts  in  the  Fabre  du  Faur  tilting  furnace  and  the  con- 
densers sealed  on  at  the  neck  of  the  retort.  At  the  close  of  the 
distillation,  when  the  zinc  has  been  volatilized,  the  condenser  is 
removed  ajid  the  rich  lead  poured  out  and  wheeled  to  the  cupelling 


Bulletin  No.  141— Labor. 


PLATE  12.— RESIDUE   FURNACE  OR  COPPER    MATTING   FURNACE. 
The  lead  drips  from  the  well  in  front  to  the  lead  kettle.     There  is  no  hood  here  at  all. 


Bulletin  No.  14-1— Labor. 


PLATE  13.— FABRE  DU    FAURZINC   DISTILLATION   FURNACE. 


The  retort  is  shown  with  the  zinc  condenser  in  place.    When  this  is  removed  the  rich 
lead  or  dore  runs  out.     There  is  no  hood  to  catch  the  fumes. 


Bulletin  No.  141— Labor. 


PLATE  14.— POURING  THE  RICH   LEAD  FROM  A  RETORT  INTO  A  CUPELLING 

FURNACE. 


This  lead  is  red  hot  and  there  is  no  hood. 


i 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING   LEAD.  45 

furnace,  into  which  it  is  poured.  From  the  cupels  the  dore,  silver 
ajid  gold,  is  recovered,  the  lead  is  oxidized  to  litharge,  and  the  arsenic 
and  antimony  are  lost  in  the  fume. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  (plates  13  and  14)  show  where  the 
dangers  may  arise  in  retort  and  cupel  work.  When  the  condenser  is 
removed  from  the  retorts,  there  usually  is  a  copious  discharge  of 
fume. 

In  one  large  refinery  in  a  room  with  nine  retorts  one  large  hood 
nins  the  whole  length  of  the  room  over  the  doors  of  these  furnaces. 
The  draft  inside  this  large  hood  is  of  course  insufficient  to  carry  ofT 
the  fume,  and  the  company  is  experimenting  with  individual  hoods 
over  two  furnaces  at  the  end  of  the  row.  These  two,  however,  are 
connected  with  the  same  flue,  and  it  is  expected  that  the  workmen 
will  turn  on  the  draft  over  one  w^hen  it  is  tapped  and  at  the  same 
time  turn  off  the  other  so  as  to  concentrate  the  exhaust  on  one. 
When  this  room  was  visited,  some  Slavic  workmen  were  engaged  in 
tapping  one  retort  and  great  clouds  of  white  fume  were  pouring  out 
and  spreading  through  the  room.  The  superintendent  ran  forward 
and  threw  open  the  draft  with  one  motion  of  his  hand,  but  the  men 
could  not  understand  his  reproof,  administered  in  vigorous  Enghsh, 
and  they  evidently  did  not  see  what  had  been  wrong  or  understand 
its  importance. 

In  another  refinery  the  ''blue  pot,"  which  is  a  mixture  of  lead  and 
zinc,  was  running  out  from  one  of  the  eight  retorts,  fuming,  and  the 
fumes  continued  to  escape  from  the  kettle  which  held  it.  There  are 
no  hoods  here. 

In  all  three  of  the  largest  cupelling  plants  the  arrangements  for 
catching  and  carrpng  off  the  lead  fumes  are  far  from  adequate,  and 
the  litharge  pot  which  catches  the  drip  is  allowed  to  fume  also. 

Miiller  beheves  that  if  precautions  are  not  taken  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  fumes  work  at  the  retorts  and  cupels  may  be  as  bad  as 
that  at  the  blast  furnace.  An  additional  danger  is  the  dust  caused 
by  breaking  up  the  cakes  of  litharge  from  the  cupels,  work  which  is 
always  done  by  hand. 

Collis  ^  states  that  he  examined  seven  men  engaged  in  cupelling 
and  aU  had  the  lead  line  and  four  a  shght  extensor  tremor. 

There  is  a  process  of  driving  out  the  last  remaining  zinc  from  the 
lead  by  means  of  a  blast  of  dry  superheated  steam,  which  is  consid- 
ered distinctly  dangerous.  Lead  oxide  and  zinc  oxide  are  formed 
and  at  the  same  time  atomized,  and  if  the  blast  is  too  strong  and  the 
hooding  insufficient  they  are  driven  out  into  the  room  in  the  form  of  a 
very  fine  dust.  Probably  there  is  always  some  lead  oxide  in  the  air 
around  tliis  kettle,  even  when  steam  is  not  pouring  in,  and  the  skini- 

'Load  smelting.  Spscial  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials 
Containing  Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  H.  B.,  II.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910,  p.  13. 


46  BULLETIN   OF   THE  BUREAU   OF   LABOR  STATISTICS. 

ming  off  of  this  mixture  of  oxides  of  lead  and  zinc  is  very  productive 
of  dust.     It  should  only  be  done  with  every  possible  precaution. 

There  is  but  one  refinery  in  which  this  method  is  used,  and  it  has 
not  yet  been  running  long  enough  to  show  how  much  danger  there 
is  in  the  work 

LIQUATING  FURNACES. 

These  furnaces  are  few  in  number,  small,  and  simply  worked. 
The  bars  of  lead  are  thrown  in  by  hand  or  on  a  paddle,  and  the  lead 
drips  away  from  the  sump  into  a  kettle.  The  residue,  which  is  smaU 
in  amount,  is  scraped  from  the  hearth  by  hand. 

FLUE-DUST  SYSTEM. 

The  dust  and  fume  collection  system  in  a  modern  American  smelt- 
ing or  refining  plant  is  very  large  and  elaborate.  Usually  steel  flues 
pass  from  the  roasters  and  blast  furnaces  to  ejid  in  great  brick  flues,  , 
and  these  in  turn  pass  on  to  the  bag  house.  The  accompanying  illus- 
tration (plate  15)  shows  how  the  flues  may  be  arranged.  The  steel 
flues  are  usually  furnished  with  some  arrangement  for  allowing  the 
heavier  flue  dust  to  be  removed.  This  can  be  done  through  windows 
in  the  flues  which  permit  the  flue  cleaner  to  insert  a  bent  hoe  or  rake 
and  to  scrape  out  the  dust,  or,  if  the  flue  is  very  large,  permit  him  to 
enter  and  shovel  it  out.  Better  than  this  is  the  arrangement  found 
in  many  plants  where  hoppers  are  placed  at  intervals  along  the  flue, 
and  it  is  only  necessary  to  open  the  sliding  grate  at  the  bottom  of  the 
hopper  and  let  the  dust  fall  into  a  car  placed  below.  If  a  canvas 
chute  is  used  from  hopper  to  car,  there  need  be  very  little  dust  in 
emptying  the  hopper,  especially  as  the  dust  in  steel  flues  is  usuaUy 
damp.  The  brick  flues  have  doors,  which  are  bricked  up  except 
during  cleaning  time.  The  lighter  flue  dust  falls  here,  and  the  lightest 
passes  on  to  the  bag  house. 

The  flue  dust  is  a  bluish  black  powder,  Hght  and  fluffy,  consisting 
chiefly  of  the  oxides  and  sulphate  of  lead  in  varying  proportions 
and  also  of  arsenic,  if  the  ore  smelted  contained  arsenic.  Western 
ore  has  often  a  large  amount  of  arsenic,  which  complicates  very  much 
the  difficulty  of  handling  the  flue  dust. 

Brick  flues  are  always  entered  by  the  workmen  and  the  dust  shov- 
eled out.  Bag  houses  are  handled  in  different  ways.  The  dust 
clings  to  the  sides  of  the  bags  and  must  be  shaken  out.  This  is  done 
])y  hand  in  several  otherwise  well-managed  plants,  four  in  all,  but 
fortunately  the  majority  of  modern  plants  are  furnished  with  some 
sort  of  mechanical  device  for  tliis  dangerous  piece  of  work.  Reversing 
the  current  of  air  and  thus  causing  a  vacuum  which  makes  the  bag 
collapse  is  the  best  way  of  shaking  them,  and  this  is  done  in  two 
plants.  Others  have  a  shaking  mechanism  controlled  from  the 
outside  by  a  handle. 


If"  t;-.-"^-    "  ""'  1"JI" 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  47 

A  bag  house  should  always  be  divided  into  separate  compartments, 
not  only  because  of  the  danger  from  fire,  but  also  because  if  the  bags 
|are  all  in  one  room  the  whole  house  must  be  shut  off  once  every  day 
I  when  they  are  shaken,  and  this  means  that  the  whole  draft  system 
is  out  of  commission  during  that  time.  As  for  the  emptying  of  the 
bag-house  tunnels,  in  which  this  dust  is  caught,  there  are  various 
methods  used.  The  dust  may  be  burned  first  m  the  tunnel,  which 
makes  it  cake  or  sinter,  or  it  may  be  shoveled  out  without  burning. 
As  a  usual  thing  no  sprinkling  is  used  in  this  work. 

It  so  happened  that  two  plants  were  in  process  of  bag  house  or 
flue  cleaning  at  the  time  they  were  visited.  A  tliird  has  a  continuous 
process  of  emptjnng.  In  the  first  (No.  9)  the  tunnel  dust  had  been 
burned,  and  the  two  tunnels  which  were  opened  were  still  smoking. 
The  men  were  at  work  in  one  of  these  and  were  shoveling  out  the  hot 
dust  which  had  been  changed  by  the  burning  mto  masses  hke  coral 
rock.  No  water  was  used,  and  the  dust  and  fume  were  excessive. 
The  manager  said  that  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  men  to  go  into 
the  tunnel  before  it  had  quite  cooled  oflf,  but  they  were  working  on 
contract  and  did  it  to  save  time.  The  men  were  well  protected  by 
a  complete  suit  of  overalls,  a  respirator,  and  an  effective  head  cov- 
ering. The  cars  full  of  flue  dust  were  drawn  away  by  the  train- 
men, the  dust  blowing  all  about.  The  bag  house  here  has  no  mechan- 
ical shaker,  and  the  bags  must  be  shaken  by  hand.  There  is  an 
excellent  bathhouse  here  and  an  attractive  lunch  room. 

No.  13  has  only  hand  shaking,  two  men  on  each  of  three  shifts 
being  employed  in  shaking  and  repairing  bags.  The  dust  in  the 
flues  which  comes  from  the  blast  furnace  contains  40  per  cent  of 
arsenic.  One  of  the  great  brick  flues  from  the  Dwight-Lloyd  machines 
was  being  cleaned.  It  is  a  long,  vaulted  chamber  piled  with  flue 
dust  about  2  feet  deep  in  the  center  and  3^  feet  at  the  sides.  This 
is  very  fuie  and  hght  dust.  It  had  not  been  burned  or  sprinkled, 
and  the  men  were  shoveling  it  out  as  it  was.  They  had  overalls  and 
caps,  and  handkerchiefs  tied  over  their  mouths,  but  they  were  not 
really  protected  against  the  dust.  A  small  wash  room  and  lunch 
room  is  provided  for  the  flue-dust  men. 

By  far  the  best  arrangement  is  seen  in  the  United  States  smelter 
at  Mdvale.  There  is  a  very  large  bag  house  here  with  some  unusual 
features.  In  the  first  place,  the  SO3  in  the  fumes  is  neutralized  by 
mixture  with  volatihzed  zinc  oxide,  forming  zinc  sulphate.  The 
process  is  patented  by  this  company.  Another  scheme  for  neutral- 
izing the  SO3  is  by  introducing  lime  into  the  flues.  This  also  is  pat- 
ented. The  construction  of  the  tunnels  is  different  from  that  in  any 
other  plant.  Instead  of  having  simple  openings  in  the  roof  of  the 
tunnel  through  which  the  dust  from  the  bags  falls,  each  opening  is 
connected  with  a  hopper  which  catches  the  dust  and  discharges  it 


48  BULLETIN    OP    THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

into  a  screw  conreyer.  The  tiimiels  are  all  open,  and  carts  could 
be  seen  standing  at  the  discharge  of  the  screw  conveyers  near  the 
doors.  The  men  are  not  obliged  to  go  into  the  tunnel  at  all.  Bags 
are  shaken  by  reversing  the  current  and  causing  a  vacuum  in  one  of 
the  twelve  compartments  of  the  bag  house  at  a  time.  Bag  repairing 
must  be  done  at  least  once  a  day,  but  never  until  the  compartment 
has  been  shut  off  and  the  windows  opened.  The  big  flues  are  cleaned 
once  in  six  months  by  flushing  out.  The  workman  opens  a  hole  in 
the  top  of  the  flue  and  a  vent  at  the  bottom  leading  to  a  large  pipe; 
then  he  directs  the  water  from  a  hose  into  the  flue,  and  the  dust  is 
washed  out  into  a  settling  tank.  The  flue  dust  here  contains  a  high 
percentage  of  arsenic,  and  the  company  has  done  much  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  men  against  arsenical  and  lead  poisoning  by  providing 
overalls,  helmets,  and  gloves,  a  bathhouse  with  hot  water,  soap,  and 
towels,  separate  lockers  for  street  clothes  and  working  clothes,  and 
a  well-heated  lunch  room. 

There  is  the  mdest  diversity  of  opinion  among  the  managers  of 
these  plants  as  to  the  advisability  of  burning  the  flue  dust  and  as  to 
the  feasibihty  of  sprinkling  it.  All  of  them  acknowledge  that  the 
work  is  very  dangerous,  and  in  those  plants  where  the  ore  is  rich  in 
arsenic  the  men  are  quite  efficiently  protected  against  the  dust. 
Fortunately  the  precautions  taken  against  arsenic  are  equally  efi^ective 
against  lead.  Clean  wash  rooms,  hot  water,  soap,  and  towels  are 
always  provided  in  these  plants  and  some  even  furnish  working 
clothes,  masks,  and  gloves.  In  every  plant  where  there  is  any  pro- 
vision at  all  for  cleanliness  it  is  evident  that  the  needs  of  the  flue  men 
and  the  bag-house  men  have  been  first  attended  to  and  rightly  so,  for 
no  other  workers  get  as  much  lead  dust  on  their  bodies  as  the  flue 
and  bag-house  men. 

In  smelting  and  refining  plants  the  flue  and  bag-house  work  is 
regarded  more  or  less  as  an  emergency  except  for  the  men  regularly  em- 
ployed at  it,  from  about  two  to  twelve  in  number.  When  the  steel 
flues  must  be  cleaned,  once  in  two  or  four  weeks,  or  the  brick  flues, 
once  in  three  to  six  months,  or  the  bag-house  tunnels,  once  in  four  to 
twelve  months,  a  special  gang  of  men  is  collected  for  the  work, 
usually  from  the  yard  gang,  with  perhaps  some  men  from  the  bri- 
quetting  house,  unless  a  contractor  from  the  outside  brings  in  his 
own  men.  The  work  of  cleaning  must  be  rushed  through  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  especially  on  the  bigger  flues  and  the  bag  house,  because 
to  shut  off  any  considerable  part  of  the  flue  sj^stem  interferes  with  the 
working  of  the  furnaces.  Tliirty  or  40  men  are  often  put  on  at 
once  and  when  the  work  is  not  let  out  on  contract  the  men  are  not 
required  to  work  for  long  hours.  Sometimes  they  work  only  five  hours 
a  day. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  40 

As  to  the  sprinkling  of  the  flue  dust,  one  manager  says  that  it  is 
possible  to  sprinkle  the  bag-house  dust,  but  not  that  in  the  flues, 
because  the  latter  is  hot  and  the  steam  would  be  excessive.  Usually 
the  opinion  is  that  if  the  sulphate  in  flue  dust  is  all  combined,  as  it  is 
in  the  dust  from  copper  converters  and  from  white  lead,  it  can  be 
dampened  down  without  harm,  but  dust  from  reverberatory  furnaces 
has  free  SO3  which  with  the  water  would  form  sulphuric  acid  and  eat 
into  men's  clotliing  and  cause  painful  burns  on  their  skin.  The  success 
of  the  Midvale  system  comes  from  the  neutralization  of  the  SO3  prac- 
ticed there.  However,  even  in  bag  houses  and  flues  which  receive 
only  lead  sulphate  dust,  without  free  SO3,  the  dust  is  sometimes 
handled  dry,  because  sprinkling  is  said  to  stir  up  so  much  dust.  Of 
course  if  the  trouble  from  sulphuric  acid  could  be  eliminated  there 
is  no  comparison  between  the  danger  of  working  with  wet  paste  and 
with  fluffy  dust.  As  to  the  objection  to  sprinkhng  that  it  raises  so 
much  dust,  this  is  true,  as  can  be  seen  in  any  dusty  street  when  the 
stream  from  a  hose  is  turned  on  it  with  too  much  force,  but  no  one 
would  advocate  cleaning  the  street  by  dry  sweeping  instead.  The 
dust  can  be  laid  without  much  difficulty  by  a  slower  sprinkling.  In 
those  plants  where  the  flue  dust  is  made  into  briquettes  there  is  a 
real  advantage  in  having  the  stuff  already  damp  and  pasty. 

Mtiller  objects  on  practical  grounds  to  wetting  the  dust  in  the  flues, 
because  if  the  water  is  squirted  in  it  stirs  up  dust,  and  sprinkling 
takes  too  long.  He  also  says  that  the  sulphuric  acid  formed  would 
be  enough  to  destroy  the  bricks  which  line  the  flue.  He  advises 
burning  the  dust  to  cause  sintering  and  then  carefully  protecting  the 
workmen,  giving  them  a  short  working  period  and  choosing  only 
strong  men  for  the  work. 

Oliver  ^  says  that  the  British  White  Lead  Commission  visited  certain 
smelters  and  as  a  result  of  what  they  saw  advised  that  flue  cleaners 
should  never  work  longer  than  two  hours  at  a  stretch. 

HEAT  AND  EXERTION. 

The  exhausting  effects  of  hard,  physical  work  and  of  exposure  to 
great  heat  are  not  so  great  in  lead  smelting  as  in  the  iron  and  steel 
industries.  The  work  in  a  lead  smelter  is  done  by  the  day  and  is 
often  intermittent,  though  hard  and  rapid  work  may  have  to  be 
done  at  times  on  any  job.  Wlien  the  contract  system  is  followed, 
the  men  naturally  work  harder  and  the  unloading  and  loading  of  cars, 
the  molding  of  bulUon,  and  the  cleaning  of  flues  is  often  contract 
work.  On  the  ore  hearths  it  is  piecework.  At  the  blast  furnace 
front  and  at  hand-rabbled  reverberatories  and  on  the  ore  hearths 
the  work  is  hot  and  strenuous.  On  the  whole,  the  most  dangerous 
and  exhausting  labor  is  that  of  the  ore-hearth  men. 


'  Dangerous  Trades,  p.  28C. 
31080°— Bull.  114—14 4 


50  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOE    STATISTICS. 

In  considering  the  dangers  of  the  smelting  industry,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  it  is  pecuHarly  hable  to  upsets,  to  accidents,  and 
emergencies  of  all  kinds.  To  quote  again  from  a  practical  smelting 
expert : 

In  lead  smelting  there  is  a  normal  and  ordinary  course  ■vrhicli  the  work  is  supposed 
to  follow,  but  there  are  also  periods  of  time,  sometimes  short,  sometimes  long,  when 
accidents  occur,  adverse  circumstances  arise,  and  conditions  alter.  Such  times  are 
at  the  burnings  out  of  furnaces  and  settlers,  when  hangs  are  hea\y  and  the  furnaces 
crowded,  or  when  arsenical  flue  dust  is  being  concentrated  in  furnaces,  or  when 
accidents  happen  to  flues  and  fans  and  bag  houses,  or  when  bad  materials  impair 
the  normal  working  of  the  furnaces.  Sometimes  the  foremen  and  the  superintendents 
do  not  know  or  do  not  care  about  theso  disturbances  of  the  normal  working  of  the 
plant.  The  management  of  most  plants  is  often  considerably  out  of  touch  with  the 
actual  working  conditions,  especially  during  the  night  shift,  when  much  of  the  ugly 
work  is  done.  At  such  times  the  men  often  suffer  seriously,  and  instead  of  bettering 
c'inditions  some  plants  put  up  with  a  continually  shifting  gang  of  men,  new  ones 
falling  into  the  trap  and  all  avoiding  certain  particidar  jobs  as  much  as  possible. 

RELATIVE    DANGERS   OF   BREATfflNG   LEAD   DUST   AND   OF 
GETTING  LEAD  ON  FOOD. 

Experts  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  Austria  are  agreed  that 
in  lead  smelting  and  refining  the  danger  comes,  not  from  lead  which 
adheres  to  the  skin  and  is  carried  into  the  mouth  with  food  or  tobacco, 
not  from  lack  of  personal  cleardiness,  but  from  the  presence  of  dust  and 
fumes  in  the  air.  Personal  cleanliness  is  not  nearly  so  important 
in  this  industry  as  in  industries  which  involve  the  handUng  of  large 
quantities  of  soluble  lead  salts,  such  as  the  basic  carbonate  (white 
lead),  or  the  oxides  (red  lead  and  Htharge).^  Collis,  medical  inspector 
of  factories  in  Great  Britain,  says  "Handhng  of  lead  may  be  prac- 
tically disregarded  as  a  source  of  trouble  in  these  trades.  "^  Laureck 
in  Weyl's  Handbuch  der  Arbeiterkrankheiten  says  "Unquestionably 
the  greatest  danger  is  the  contamination  of  air  by  lead  dust  and  lead 
fumes.  "^  Yet,  strangely  enough,  in  the  United  States  both  physi- 
cians and  laymen  connected  with  lead-smelting  plants  almost  inva- 
riably lay  far  greater  stress  on  the  danger  of  uncleanhness  on  the  part 
of  the  workman  than  on  anything  in  his  surroundings.  Chargemen 
on  feed  floors  with  leaking  stacks,  workmen  tapping  matte  and  lead 
from  the  blast  furnace,  men  working  in  clouds  of  dust  at  the  pots  or 
the  roast  and  sinter  machines,  all  are  supposed  to  get  leaded  from 

'  In  the  United  States  the  roasting  of  oxides  to  fonn  red  lead  and  litharge  is  a  separate  industrj',  while 
in  England,  Germany,  and  Austria  it  is  carried  on  together  with  lead  smelling.  Among  the  20  plants 
studied  in  the  United  States  only  1  makes  oxides  on  a  large  scale.  In  the  others  litharge  is  produced  in 
the  dezincing  processes  in  refineries,  but  nowhere  else.  From  foreign  statistics  it  is  evident  that  the  mak- 
ing of  oxides  is  more  productive  of  lead  poisoning  than  most  of  the  processes  of  lead  smelting.  Thus,  in 
Austria,  in  1901  to  1903,  there  was  1  case  of  lead  poisoning  to  every  15.1  men  engaged  in  smelting,  but  1 
to  every  2.9  men  engaged  in  making  white  lead  and  oxides.  (Grotjahn  und  Kaup  Handworterbuch  der 
sozialen  Hygiene,  vol.  2,  p.  27.5.) 

*  Lead  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials  Con- 
taining Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910,  p.  fi. 

»  Krankheiten  der  Arbeiter  in  Blei-,  Silber-,  Zink-  und  Quecksilberhiitten,  by  P.  Laureck.  In  Weyl's 
Handbuch  der  Arbeiterkrankheiten,  pp.  33-67. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD. 


51 


eating  their  lunch  without  washing  their  hands  and  faces.  One  argu- 
ment against  this  view  seems  to  have  escaped  those  who  hold  it. 
The  product  handled  in  a  smelter  or  refinery  gets  richer  in  lead  as  it 
goes  through  successive  processes,  and  therefore  the  dust  that  adheres 
to  the  sldn  has  more  lead  toward  the  end  than  at  the  beginning.  By 
the  time  it  reaches  the  refiners  and  desilverers  it  is  practically  pure 
lead,  and  so  there  should  be  much  more  lead  poisoning  in  this  depart- 
ment than  in  the  mUl,  or  in  charging,  or  in  breaking  up  the  roasted 
ore,  or  in  blast-furnace  work,  where  the  dust  has  only  a  relatively 
small  proportion  of  lead,  yet  every  practical  smelting  expert  knows 
that  refining  and  desilvering  are  about  the  safest  kinds  of  work  in 
the  whole  plant. 

These  figures  that  were  prepared  by  E.  Toth  and  quoted  in  Ley- 
mann's  Bekampfung  der  Bleigefahr  in  der  Industrie  (p.  242)  show 
the  amount  of  lead  found  in  the  water  in  wh'ch  men  employed  in 
different  kinds  of  work  in  a  smelter  had  washed  their  hands  at  the 
end  of  the  day's  work.  Toth  had  them  use  not  only  soap  but  dilute 
acetic  acid,  so  the  amount  of  lead  in  the  water  is  greater  than  that 
which  would  be  found  after  ordinary  washing. 

AMOUNT  OF  LEAD  FOUND  IN  WATER  IN  WHICH  MEN  EMPLOYED  IN  A  SMELTER 
HAD  WASHED  THEIR  HANDS  AT  THE  END  OF  THE  DAY'S  WORK,  BY  CHARACTER 
OF   WORK 


Character  of  work. 


Furnace  men.. . . 
Mixing  charges. . . 
Shoveling  charges 

Reiining 

Cupelling 


Fii'st  man. 


Grams. 
0. 12S(5 
.  1648 
.1776 
.  2589 
.  2924 


Second 
man. 


Grams. 
0. 1591 
.2288 
.1995 
.3238 
.  3563 


MuUer  goes  thoroughly  into  the  question  of  the  comparative  danger 
of  lead  carried  into  the  mouth  from  dirty  fingers  and  of  lead  contained 
in  the  dust  and  fume  in  the  air.  He  found  the  lead  content  of  1 
cubic  meter  of  air  in  the  flue  over  the  slag  tap  at  the  level  of  the  work- 
man's mouth  to  be  1.184  g.  Estimating  that  this  would  be  diluted 
about  five  times  at  the  tapping  platform  he  calculates  that  there 
would  be  0.2368  g.  in  each  cubic  meter  breathed  by  the  tapper.  As 
a  man  breathes  about  0.45  cubic  meters  in  an  hour  or  4.5  in  10  hours, 
the  tapper  would  breathe  in  1.0625  g.  in  the  course  of  a  10-hour  day. 
On  the  other  hand,  MilUer  collected  from  the  hands  of  one  man 
working  on  the  tap  floor  only  0.0876  g.  and  from  another  0.032  g.  at 
the  end  of  10  hours'  work.^ 

Now,  assuming  that  all  this  quantity  would  be  on  a  man's  hands, 
not  only  at  the  end  of  the  day,  but  before  each  of  two  meals,  and 


1  The  difference  between  his  figures  and  those  of  Toth  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  Toth's  subjects  used 
dilute  acetic  acid  and  Mfiller's  onlj'  soap  and  water. 


52 


BULLETIN    OF   THE   BTJEEAU   OF   LABOE    STATISTICS. 


that  every  bit  of  it  should  get  into  his  food  (obviously  an  impossi- 
bility unless  the  man  should  literally  wash  his  hands  in  his  soup  or 
coffee)  he  would  still  get  only  0.1752  g.  or  0.064  g.  of  lead  in  this  way. 

How  significant  these  quantities  are  it  is  difficult  to  say,  inasmuch 
as  some  men  are  very  susceptible  to  lead  and  succumb  to  a  compara- 
tively small  amount  while  others  are  resistant  even  to  large  quantities. 
Teleky  stated  in  1912  at  the  meeting  of  the  Council  of  the  Institute 
of  Industrial  Hygiene  that  a  daily  dose  of  rather  more  than  0.001  g. 
for  several  months  may  lead  to  symptoms  of  lead  poisonuag,  while  a 
daily  dose  of  0.1  g.  may  lead  to  severe  symptoms  in  a  few  weeks.^ 

Other  analyses  of  air  and  dust  taken  from  different  parts  of  a  smel- 
ter are  given  in  the  Austrian  report  already  frequently  quoted.^  Flue 
dust  is,  of  course,  richer  in  lead  than  any  other. 

Charging  floor,  blast  furnace  0.4  mg.  in  28  liters  of  air.  The  dust 
on  a  ledge  here  contained  19.7  per  cent  lead  (estimated  as  oxide). 

Tapping  floor,  blast  furnace,  0,3  mg.  in  28  liters  of  air,  14  per  cent 
in  dust. 

Cupels  and  retorts,  0.4  mg.  in  28  liters  of  air,  9.3  per  cent  in  dust. 

Grinding  and  crushing  roasted  ore,  29.3  per  cent  lead  in  the  air. 

Dust  chamber,  42  per  cent  lead  in  the  air,  68  per  cent  in  the  dust. 

Collis  ^  quotes  Hofman's  analyses  of  dust  and  fumes  in  lead  smelt- 
ing, omitting  from  the  list  constituents  that  are  of  no  hygienic 
importance. 

ANALYSIS  OF  DUST  AND  FUMES. 

PERCENTAGE    OF   POISONOUS  CHEMICALS  IN   DUST  AND   FUMES  FROM  VARIOUS 

SOURCES. 


Material  analyzed. 


All  dust  collected  in  10  years,  average. 
Dust  from — 

Down  comers  of  11  blast  furnaces. 

Hoof  of  blast-furnace  building 

Hood  above  slag  tap 

Fumes  from — 

Slag  pot  while  boiling 

Reverberatory  settling  furnace 

Flue  dust  from— 

Friedrichshiitte,  Silesia 

Pribram,  Bohemia 


(A. 
Freiberg,  Saxony <B. 

[C. 
Flue  dust  from — 

Omaha  and  Grant  Works,  Denver 

I?; 

Id. 


<'.]o\>e  Works,  Denver 


Per  cent. 


37.5 

46.4 


.Vrsenions 
oxide. 


Per  cent. 


0.0 
4.8 


15.8 


Lead. 


Per  cent. 
25.  li 


47.5 

27.1 


26.2 
21.3 
16.2 


18.7 

32.6 

5.1 

19.4 


Lead 
mon- 
oxide. 


Per  cent. 


41.0 
31.0 


62.8 
45.5 


Lead 

sulphate. 


Per  cerit. 


21. \ 
26  2 


57.3 


'  Teleky  Protokoll  der  Sitzung  des  grossen  Rates  des  Institutes  fiir  Oewerbehygiene,  1912,  p.  15. 

»  K.  k.  Arbeitsstatistisches  Amt  im  Handelsministerium:  Bleivergiftungen  in  lliittenmenschen  und 
gewerbliche  Hetrieben.     AVien,  1905. 

2  I>;ad  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials 
Containing  Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  H.  B.,  U.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910,  p.  9. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD.  53 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  ahnost  eveiy  manager  and  physician  of  a 
smelting  or  refining  plant  lays  the  responsibility  for  what  lead  poison- 
ing there  is  among  his  men  to  their  own  carelessness,  because  they 
will  not  wash  before  they  eat,  it  is  the  exception  to  find  any  proper 
provision  made  for  this  washing  which  is  regai'ded  as  so  essential. 
The  men  are  not  supposed  to  go  home  during  their  working  time; 
if  they  eat  any  lunch,  it  must  be  in  or  near  their  place  of  work,  so 
that  in  the  majority  of  cases  they  must  choose  between  fasting  or 
eatmg  with  unwashed  hands  and  face,  for  there  is  no  place  where  they 
can  wash  properly.  The  men  in  the  blast  furnace  department  can 
almost  always  use  the  hot  water  which  runs  out  from  the  water 
jackets  of  the  furnaces,  and  if  they  provide  themselves  with  soap  and 
towels  these  men  can  get  clean.  In  the  smelter  at  Sahda  the  hot 
water  from  the  furnaces  has  been  made  to  flow  through  big  wooden 
troughs,  which  are  very  convenient  places  for  the  men  to  wash.  But 
in  one  large  smelter  the  hot  water  is  conducted  away  in  pipes  and  the 
men  can  not  get  at  it  at  aU.  AU  they  have  to  wash  with  is  cold  water 
from  the  tap. 

A  few  plants  have  ample  washing  and  bathing  facihties  and  good 
lunch  rooms.  Much  the  best  one  so  far  is  that  of  the  National  Lead 
Co.  at  their  CoUinsviUe  plant.  The  American  Smelting  &  Refuiing 
Co.  is  constructmg  large  "comfort  houses"  with  bathing,  washmg, 
and  lunching  facihties  in  then*  plants  at  Federal  and  South  Chicago 
which  will  compare  favorably  with  the  one  in  Collin  sville.  Other 
plants  which  have  a  good  or  fairly  good  equipment  are  the  one  at 
East  Helena  where  there  are  small  wash  rooms  and  lunch  rooms 
conveniently  scattered  through  the  plant,  the  refineries  at  Omaha 
and  Perth  Amboy,  the  Picher  plant  at  Joplin,  and  the  St.  Joseph 
plant  at  Herculaneum.  Others  have  either  a  less  adequate  equip- 
ment, or  one  which  is  designed  for  flue  dustmen  only,  or  none  at  all. 

A  safe  and  abmidant  supply  of  drinking  water  is  also  a  necessity 
which  has  sometimes  been  neglected.  Work  in  a  lead  smelter  is  hard 
and  hot  and  the  men  need  drinking  water;  if  it  is  not  supplied  they 
will  brmg  it  in  open  pails  and  leave  it  exposed  to  the  dust.  In  East 
Helena  the  superintendent  of  the  safety  department  has  had  gal- 
vanized iron  boxes  with  easily  sUding  doors  placed  at  a  convenient 
level  on  the  waU  and  the  pail  of  water  stands  inside. 

POISONS   OTHER  THAN  LEAD  ENCOUNTERED  IN  LEAD 

SMELTING. 

Arsenic  is  an  important  feature  in  the  smelting  plants  at  Denver 
and  Midvale  and  in  the  refineries  at  South  Chicago  and  GrasseUi,  but 
it  is  also  present,  though  in  smaller  amounts,  in  the  bag-house  dust 
at  Murray,  Tooele,  East  Helena,  East  Chicago,  and  Perth  Amboy. 
It  is  rarely  that  one  hears  of  any  arsenical  poisoning  except  in  the 


54  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

form  of  ulceration  of  the  skin,  and  when  this  occurs  the  men  are 
promptly  changed  to  other  work.  Where  the  flue  dust  has  large 
quantities  of  arsenic,  special  precautions  are  always  taken,  the  men 
are  protected  by  proper  clothing  and  caps  or  helmets  or  hoods,  and 
either  respirators  or  cloths;  they  are  required  to  bathe  after  work 
and  to  eat  their  lunch  in  a  special  room.  One  case  only  of  severe 
arsenical  poisoning  with  systemic  symptoms  was  reported.  This 
was  a  Montenegrm  employed  in  the  bag  house  of  a  western  smelter. 
He  had  a  severe  case  of  arseniqal  neuritis  which  nearly  proved  fatal. 

Although  so  few  cases  of  arsenical  poisoning  have  been  noted, 
several  physicians  say  that  they  sometimes  suspect  arsenic  as  a  com- 
plication of  lead,  but  it  is  impossible  to  be  certain  of  it. 

Concerning  the  part  played  by  antimony  in  causing  disease  in  this 
industry,  nothing  positive  can  be  said,  for  the  arsenic,  which  is  present 
at  the  same  time,  masks  the  effect  of  antimony. 

LEAD  POISONING  IN  THE  SMELTING  INDUSTRY   IN  GREAT 
BRITAIN,  GERMANY,  AND  AUSTRIA. 

The  record  of  lead  poisoning  in  Great  Britain  is  to  be  found  in  the 
report  of  the  chief  medical  inspector  of  factories  and  workshops  for  the 
year  1912.  Among  2,404  men  engaged  in  the  smelting  of  metals 
there  were  56  cases  of  plumbism  or  about  2  per  100  employed.^  The 
zinc-smelting  industry,  however,  was  responsible  for  an  undue  pro- 
portion of  these  cases.  Dr.  T.  M.  Legge,  chief  medical  inspector, 
informs  us  that  395  of  the  2,404  men  were  engaged  in  the  smelt- 
ing of  zinc  and  that  19  of  the  56  cases  occurred  among  them. 
This  would  give  37  cases  for  2,009  men  engaged  in  lead  smelting, 
which  means  a  rate  of  only  1.8  per  100.  This  is  decidedly  lower 
than  the  rates  in  most  German  and  Austrian  smelters.  According 
to  Collis  there  was  an  increase  in  the  number  of  reported  cases  of 
plumbism  in  the  smelting  of  metals  during  1908  and  1909.  The  aver- 
age for  the  eight  years  previous  to  1908  was  34.4  cases  per  year,  then 
in  1908  there  were  70  cases  and  in  1909,  66. ^  The  56  cases  of  1911 
show  that  the  number  is  falhng  again. 

Lead  smelting  has  long  been  regarded  as  a  very  dangerous  trade  in 
both  Germany  and  Austria,  and  the  early  records  show  that  lead 
poisonmg  used  to  be  appalUngly  frequent  20  years  ago.  Since  then 
both  the  German  and  the  Austrian  Governments  have  brought  the 
industry  under  regulation  and  there  has  been  a  marked  lessening  of 
lead  poisoning  of  late  years,  although  certain  plants  in  those  coun- 
tries still  have  a  high  rate.  In  no  European  country  is  the  smelting 
of  lead  as  important  an  industry  as  it  is  with  us.     According  to  the 

>  Annual  Report  of  the  Chief  Inspector  of  Factories  and  Workshops  for  the  year  1912,  pp.  198,  205. 
»  Lead  Smelting.    Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Proces.ses  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials 
Containing  Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  H.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910,  p.  1. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  55 

figures  given  by  the  Metallurgische  Gesellschaft  of  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main^  the  world  production  of  lead  in  1904  was  926,000  English  tons, 
of  which  284,700  tons  came  from  North  America,  190,000  tons  from 
Spain,  and  137,500  tons  from  Germany.  Less  than  this  was  produced 
in  Austria  and  in  Great  Britain. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  to  find  a  full  report  of  lead  poisoning  in 
this  industry  in  Germany  during  recent  years.  The  last  volume  of 
the  factory  inspection  report  (Jahresberichte  der  Gewerbeaufsichts- 
beamten  u.  Bergbehorden)  is  for  the  year  1911  and  gives  informa- 
tion with  regard  to  only  a  few  plants.  The  Royal  Friedrichshiitte  in 
Tarnowitz,  employing  581  men,  had  not  one  case  of  lead  coUc  during 
the  year,  while  the  Walter  Croneck  plant,  employing  217  men,  had 
23  cases,  a  rate  of  10.6  per  100.  The  report  goes  on  to  state  that 
among  the  798  men  employed  in  both  plants  together  there  were  80 
cases  of  gastritis  and  62  of  rheumatism;  these  are  affections  which  in 
many  reports  would  be  classed  as  forms  of  plumbism.  In  another 
plant,  in  the  district  of  Wiesbaden,  there  were  65  cases  of  lead  coHc  in  a 
force  of  387  men,  and  in  a  fourth  plant  in  the  same  district  13  cases 
among  115  men,  this  last  having  about  the  same  rate  as  the  Walter 
Croneck  plant,  11  per  100.  In  the  last  two  plants  there  was  an 
increase  over  the  record  of  the  year  before  which  was  attributed  to 
the  introduction  of  converter  roasting  in  which  the  breaking  up  of 
the  caked  ore  causes  much  dangerous  dust. 

The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  in  1903  ordered  an  investiga- 
tion of  lead  poisoning  in  the  smelting  industry  and  the  results  of  the 
labors  of  the  commission  appointed  for  this  purpose  were  pubHshed 
in  1905.  Very  full  descriptions  are  given  of  several  smelters  together 
with  analyses  of  dust  and  fumes,  and  the  records  of  physicians  con- 
cerning lead  cohc  and  other  forms  of  plumbism  in  these  plants.  In 
the  Pribram  works  the  records  for  the  10  years  from  1894  to  1903,  in- 
clusive, show  an  average  of  only  39  cases  of  lead  coHc  and  of  chronic 
gastric  catarrh  and  chronic  constipation,  diseases  which  are  probably 
plumbic  in  origin.  This  would  be  a  rate  of  only  9  per  100  employed. ^ 
In  Gailitz  where  the  dangerous  ore  hearth  method  is  used  there  is  a 
rate  so  low  that  it  can  be  explained  only  by  the  short  working  day  on 
the  hearths  and  the  fact  that  the  physician  in  charge  suspends  from 
furnace  work  all  men  who  have  lost  appetite  and  puts  them  on  out- 
door work.  In  1899  there  were  14  cases  of  lead  cohc  among  61 
employees  in  tliis  plant  and  no  less  than  94  cases  of  possible  lead 
poisoning  (gastric  catarrh  or  intestinal  catarrh  or  anemia),  but  in 
1903  there  was  not  one  case  of  colic  among  49  men  and  the  suspected 
cases  were  reduced  to  18.^ 

1  Krankheiten  der  Arbeiter  in  Blei-,  Silber-,  Zink  und  Quicksilberhiitten,  by  P.  Laureck.    In  Weyl's 
Handbuch  der  Arbeiter  Krankheiten,  p.  33. 

2  K.  k.  Arbeits  statistisches  Amt  im  Handelsministeriuin.    Bleivergit'tungen  in  hiittemnannischen  u. 
gewerblichen  Beirieben.    Teil  I,  p.  14. 

3  Idem,  p.  27. 


56 


BULLETIN    OP   THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 


The  Sclieriau  smelter  has  a  very  different  record.  Here  there  were 
39  cases  of  lead  colic  among  the  153  men  emploj^ed  in  1903,  or  25  per 
100.  The  report  states  that  this  plant  suffers  from  the  disadvantage 
of  a  poor  and  shifting  class  of  labor,  but  it  is  CA^dent  also  that  exten- 
sive alterations  in  old  buildings  and  a  tardy  installation  of  washing 
faciUties  played  some  part  in  the  trouble.^ 

In  German  smelters  the  work  is  divided  for  the  most  part  into  two 
sliifts  of  12  hours  each  with  24  hours  of  work  every  second  week 
when  the  shift  changes.  The  report  of  the  factory  inspector  for  the 
Aix-la-Chapelle  district  makes  mention  of  an  8-hour  shift,  but  on  the 
blast  furnaces  only.  Thus  in  one  plant,  128  men  are  said  to  have 
worked  12  hours  and  25  men  8  hours.  Austrian  smelters  work  in  3 
shifts  of  8  hours,  except  the  men  who  form  what  we  would  call  the 
yard  gang,  who  have  a  10-hour  day  as  wdth  us.  The  6-hour  shifts  of 
the  Aus  trian  ore-hearth  men  have  already  been  described. 

Certain  of  the  foreign  plants  can  show  a  very  briUiant  improve- 
ment in  the  health  of  their  men  at  present  when  compared  with 
former  j^ears.  For  instance  in  Pribram  the  average  number  of  cases 
of  lead  poisoning  for  the  3"ears  between  1879  and  1888  was  38.2.  From 
1894  to  1903  it  was  12.9.^  Even  better  are  Toth's  statistics  ^  of  lead 
smelting  in  Schemnitz,  Hungary : 

CASES  OF  LEAD  POISONING  AMONG  EMPLOYEES  OF  LEAD  SMELTERS  IX  SCHEMNITZ, 
HUNGARY,  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES  FOR  SPECIFIED  YEARS,  1895  TO  1905. 


Year. 

E  mployees. 

Cases  of  lead  poisoning. 

Number. 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 

1895 

1897 

1899 

1901 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

328 
363 
386 
382 
359 
296 
290 
271 

241 
147 
166 
113 
47 
40 
25 
6 

73.5 

40.5 

43.0   . 

29.6 

13.0 

13.5 

8.6 

2.2 

E.  J.  Neisser  ^  gives  a  table  showing  the  incidence  of  lead  colic 
in  two  large  German  smelters,  the  rojml  Friedrichshutte  and  the 
Walter  Croneck,  the  one  showing  a  low  and  decreasing  rate,  the  other 
a  iiigrli  and  increasing  rate. 


'  K.  k.  Arbeits  statistiches  Amt  in  ITandelsm jnisterium.  Bleivergiftungen  in  hiittenmannischen  u. 
gcwerblichen  Bctrieben.    Teil  I,  p.  34. 

-  Krankheiten  dor  Arbeitor  in  Blei-,  Silber-,  Zink  nnd  Quicksilberhiitten,  by  1'.  Laureck.  In  Weyl's 
Handbuch  der  Arbeitcrkrankheiten,  p.  38. 

3  Q\ioted  in  Leymann  lor*,  fit.,  p.  245. 

■•  Internat.  Uber.sicht  iiber  Gewerbhygiene,  p.  5.    Berlin,  1907. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD. 


57 


CASESOF  LEAD  COLIC  AMONG  EMPLOYEES  OF  TWO  LARGE  GERMAN  SMELTERS,  AND 
RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  BY  YEARS,  1903  TO  1905. 


K.  Frieflrichshutte: 

Roasting  and  sintering— Huntington-Heberlein  pots 

Blast  furnace 

Desilvering , 

Retorts  and  cupels , 

Other  work 

"Walter  Croneckhiitte 


Year. 


1903 
1904 
1905 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1903 
1904 
1905 
1903 
1904 
1905 


Employ- 
ees. 


87 

S3 

267 

232 

247 

56 

73 

75 

16 

15 

14 

330 

309 

347 

118 

143 

144 


Cases  of  lead  colic. 


Number. 


Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 


13.9 

9.2 

13.3 

22.1 

10.3 

10.9 

21.4 

5.  5 

5.3 

25.0 

6.7 

7.1 

1.5 

1.3 

2.0 

16.9 

48.2 

68.7 


This  is  as  great  a  contrast  as  can  be  found  in  the  literature  between 
two  contemporaneous  plants  in  the  same  country.  Neisser  attributes 
the  trouble  in  the  Walter  C'roneck  plant  to  the  fact  that  it  is  an  old, 
overcrowded  smelter  wliicli  has  not  been  enlarged  as  its  output  has 
increased,  and  wliich  employs  large  numbers  of  migratory  foreigners. 

A  German  smelter  wliich  has  shown  marked  improvement  of  late 
years  is  that  at  Ocker  in  Brunswick,  The  change  after  1900  is  to  be 
attributed  chiefly  to  efficient  exhausts  which  were  placed  on  the 
tapping  floor.^ 

CASES  OF  LEAD  COLIC  AMONG  EMPLOYEES  OF  SMELTERS  AT  OCKER  IN  BRUNSWICK, 
AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  BY  YEARS,  1897  TO  1905. 


Year. 

Emplo3-ees. 

Cases  of  lead  colic. 

Number. 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 

1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901. 

1902 

1903 

1904 

1905 

179 
179 
177 
184 
186 
189 
189 
189 
189 

20 
18 
46 
7 
5 
5 
6 
4 
1 

11.2 
10.1 
25.6 
3.7 
2.5 
2.5 
3.2 
2.0 

ilntemat.  Ubersicht  iiber  Gewerbehygiene,  p.  24. 


58 


BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUREAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 


LEAD    POISONING    IN    THE    SMELTING    INDUSTRY    IN    THE 

UNITED  STATES. 

HISTORICAL. 

Everyone  who  has  followed  the  development  of  the  lead  industry  in 
the  United  States  for  many  years  back  asserts  that  lead  poisoning  is 
far  less  common  in  this  industry  and  far  less  severe  than  it  used  to  be. 
Tliis  must  be  true  for  many  reasons.  In  the  early  days,  even  if  some 
efforts  were  made  to  prevent  accidents,  practically  no  attention  was 
paid  to  the  protection  of  the  men  against  disease.  The  industry  was 
in  a  very  crude  condition,  and  the  one  thing  of  importance  was  to  get 
furnaces  installed  and  smelt  the  lead.  Naturally  the  equipment  of  these 
plants  was  not  elaborate.  Hoods  over  furnaces,  and  flues  and  bag 
liouses  to  catch  and  recover  the  fumes  are  comparatively  recent  inno- 
vations. There  must  have  been  much  more  sickness  in  the  eighties 
than  there  is  now;  physicians,  smelting  experts,  and  old  workmen  all 
testify  to  this,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  prove  it. 

Physicians  who  have  practiced  for  many  years  in  these  centers  have 
seldom  kept  records;  and  those  who  have  done  so  have  probably  altered 
their  standards  as  the  years  went  on,  and  they  now  record  as  plumbism 
cases  which  formerly  seemed  too  mild  to  notice.  At  least  tliis  seems 
the  only  way  to  account  for  the  fact  that,  though  their  records  give  as 
high  figures  now  as  in  former  years,  they  still  insist  that  there  is  not 
nearly  so  much  lead  poisoning  as  there  used  to  be.  For  instance,  one 
western  physician  could  furnish  records  for  1898  and  1899  and  for 
1912,  wliich  made  it  possible  to  compare  two  dates  14  years  apart. 
His  records  contain  relatively  few  cases  of  plumbism,  but  many  cases 
of  indigestion  and  several  of  myalgia  and  lumbago.  It  seemed  best 
to  follow  the  German  and  Austrian  system  and  regard  these  as  prob- 
ably less  typical  forms  of  chronic  plumbism. 

EMPLOYEES  ON  PAY  ROLL  AND  CASES  OF  PLUMBISM,  MYALGIA,  AND  INDIGESTION, 
AS  REPORTED  BY  A  PHYSICIAN  OF  A  WESTERN  PLANT  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
iS9S,  1899,  AND  1912. 


Employees. 

Cases  of— 

Year. 

Plumb- 
ism. 

Myalgia. 

Indiges- 
tion. 

Total. 

H9S           

800-850 
800-850 
500-550 

74 
74 
52 

48 
47 
93 

174 
242 
197 

296 

IS!)'.)      

363 

11)12              

342 

In  spite  of  this  showing  he  insisted  that  lead  poisoning  is  not  so 
common  nor  so  severe  as  it  was  in  1898. 

In  another  western  plant  the  records,  which  go  back  only  to  1906, 
show  no  improvement  at  all. 


LEAD  POISONIISTG  IN  SMELTIXG  AND  REFINING  LEAD. 


59 


CASES   OF  LEAD   POISONING   IN   A   WESTERN   PLANT  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES,  AND 
RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  BY  YEARS,  1906  TO  1912. 


Employ- 
ees. 


Cases  of  lead 
poisoning. 


Number. 


Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 


550 

65 

550 

95 

.350-400 

67 

350-400 

38 

350-400 

56 

450-500 

84 

450-500 

81 

11.8 
17.8 
16.8 
9.5 
14.0 
16.8 
16.2 


A  record  wliich  covers  21  years  is  the  following,  wliicli  was  kept 
throughout  by  the  same  physician : 

CASES  OF  LEAD  POISONING,  ACCORDING  TO  SEVERITY,  IN  A  WESTERN  PLANT  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES,  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES,  FOR  SPECIFIED  YEARS,  1891 
TO  1912. 


Employ- 
ees. 

Cases  of  lead  poisoning 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 

Year. 

Se-re.       Moder- 

Mild. 

Total. 

1891 

1892              

500 

500 
500 
500 
500 
500-550 
630 

8  !  55 
4  ■  49 
1                 17 

'              19 

-       1  i              21 

'              20 

1       " 

58 
80 
78 
77 
55 
90 
134 

121 
133 
97 
96 
77 
110 
175 

24.2 
26  6 

1895 

19  4 

1900                     

19  2 

1905       

15  4 

1906 

1912 

20.0 

27.7 

At  first  sight  this  report  does  not  show  any  improvement;  rather 
it  shows  that  the  lowest  number  of  cases  was  reached  in  1905,  before 
the  introduction  of  copper  converters,  and  that  since  then  there  has 
been  a  decided  increase,  but  though  the  number  of  cases  has  risen 
there  has  been  a  great  f  alhng  off  in  the  number  of  severe  cases.  While 
in  1891  the  severe  and  moderate  numbered  more  than  the  mild,  in 
1906  the  mild  were  more  than  four  times  and  in  1912  more  than  three 
times  as  numerous  as  the  moderate  and  no  severe  cases  at  aU  were 
reported,  so  that  this  record  really  shows  an  improvement. 

It  does  seem  to  be  true  that  the  severe  nervous  forms  of  plumbism, 
convulsions  and  insanity,  occm'  very  seldom  now,  at  least  in  those 
plants  where  there  are  no  open  hearths.  Thus  in  Denver,  Pueblo, 
Leadville,  Salt  Lake  City,  Omaha,  South  Chicago,  and  East  Chicago 
it  was  not  possible  to  hear  of  a  single  case  of  convulsions  or  insanity 
that  had  occurred  in  1912,  although  the  physicians  -had  known  of 
many  such  cases  in  former  years.  Records  were  found,  however, 
showing  that  lead  convulsions  or  insanity  still  occur  in  Perth  Amboy, 


60  BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOE    STATISTICS. 

Newark,  Collinsville,  Federal,  Herculaneum,  Joplin,  SaJida,  Tooele, 
and  East  Helena. 

Earl}'-  hospital  statistics  in  the  lead-smelting  districts  are  largely 
worthless  and  the  only  records  obtainable  which  seemed  trust- 
worth}'  and  significant  were  those  of  St.  Vincent's  Hospital  in  Lead- 
ville.  Lead  smelting  began  at  Leadville  in  1877  with  one  small 
smelter  and  increased  rapidly  till  at  the  end  of  1879  there  were  10 
to  12  dift'erent  plants  operating,  most  of  them  comparatively  small 
and  not  emplo3''ing  over  100  men.^  After  1882  the  improvement  in 
smelting  practice  was  rapid  and  plants  of  inferior  design,  construction, 
and  management  were  eliminated,  while  the  remaining  plants  enlarged 
their  operations  so  that  the  total  number  of  men  employed  did  not 
alter  materially.  In  1885  there  were  only  6  plants  in  operation, 
in  1892  only  4,  and  the  foUomng  year,  during  the  panic,  all  closed 
down.  After  that  up  to  the  time  of  this  investigation  only  1  plant, 
the  Arkansas  Valley,  has  been  operated  regularly. 

According  to  Ingalls,  by  1885,  the  smelting  works  at  Leadville 
(except  the  Cummings  &  Finn  smelter)  exemplified  about  as  good 
practice  as  there  was  an3^where  at  that  time.  The  Arkansas  Valley 
was  alwaj^s  the  best  and  in  subsequent  j^ears  was  greatly  improved. 
During  the  first  few  years  of  lead  smelting  in  Leadville  no  attention 
whatever  was  paid  to  hygienic  conditions  in  the  plants,  but  after  a 
few  years  the  disastrous  effects  of  excessive  sickness  among  the  men 
began  to  be  felt  and  efforts  were  made  to  improve  conditions.  It 
is  only  during  the  last  five  years,  however,  that  anything  really  sys- 
tematic has  been  done  to  ehminate  lead  poisoning. 

The  statistics  of  St.  Vincent's  Hospital  illustrate  this  short  sketch 
of  Leadville's  history.  They  begin  in  1879  toward  the  end  of  the 
year,  and  in  1880  there  were  54  recorded  cases  of  lead  poisoning  in  men 
from  the  smelters  and  no  less  than  67  among  miners,  showing  the 
nature  of  the  ore  mined  in  the  early  days.  In  1881  the  number  of  cases 
from  smelters  had  risen  to  109  and  in  1882  it  reached  the  highest 
point  in  the  hospital  records,  424,  to  which  must  be  added  54  cases 
among  miners.  There  were  no  less  than  26  cases  in  one  week  in 
June  of  that  year  and  27  in  one  week  in  April.  The  total  number  of 
cases  treated  in  the  hospital  in  1882  was  only  818,  so  that  lead  poison- 
ing was  responsible  for  more  than  half  of  the  patients,  in  spite  of  the 
large  number  of  accidental  injuries  in  those  days.  The  year  1883 
had  a  lower  record,  259  out  of  a  total  of  459  patients,  and  1884  had 
only  14.3.  Probabty  the  enormous  morbidity  of  1882  represents  the 
culmination  of  two  or  three  years'  work  under  wretchedh^  unh3^gienic 
conditions,  while  the  lessened  number  in  the  following  3^ears  shows 
the  effect  of  efforts  at  improvement  in  the  plants. 

'  The  author  is  indebtwl  for  t'^.ese  facts  to  A\\  R.  li)s;alls,  editor  of  t';e  Enj^ineering  and  Mining  Journal, 
and  to  i-.  <■;.  EakiiLs,  of  tlie  Colorado  Department  of  the  American  Smelting  &  Refining  Co. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  61 

The  records  of  individual  plants  during  this  year,  1S82,  show  the 
high  rate  of  plumbism  which  obtained  in  those  days  in  certain  plants. 
The  La  Plata  smelter,  which  is  said  to  have  had  an  average  pay  roll 
of  250  men,  had  198  cases  in  that  year.  Cummings  &  Finn,  employing 
over  300  men,  had  156  cases.  These  are  only  the  hospital  cases, 
they  do  not  represent  the  whole  number  poisoned. 

The  figures  keep  up  to  between  120  and  240  for  several  years  and 
there  is  no  regular  or  decided  diminution  till  the  year  after  the  panic 
of  1893.  During  this  year  no  plants  were  operated  in  LeadviUe,  and 
the  42  cases  treated  in  the  hospital  must  have  been  left  over  from 
previous  years.  After  1894  there  was  a  great  depression  in  both 
mining  and  smelting  in  LeadviUe  and  operations  were  not  resumed 
on  a  large  scale  for  several  years,  yet  we  find  a  steady  increase  of  cases 
of  lead  poisoning,  reaching  139  in  1900.  Then  comes  a  gradual  descent 
to  4  cases  in  1905  and  from  then  on  the  figures  fluctuate  between 
8  and  35,  the  last  being  the  number  of  cases  for  1912.  From  1901 
only  one  plant  of  consequence  has  operated  in  LeadviUe,  and  in  1912 
this  plant  had  an  average  pay  roU  of  a  little  less  than  300  men. 

No  one  can  show  from  this  record  that  there  has  been  a  steady 
and  consistent  improvement  in  the  lead-smelting  industry  in  Lead- 
viUe as  far  as  the  hygiene  of  the  industry  is  concerned.  AU  that  can 
be  said  is  that  in  1882  a  plant  employing  250  men  had  a  rate  of  lead 
])oisoning  of  79  per  100  employed  while  in  1913  a  plant  employing 
less  than  300  men  had  a  rate  of  about  12  per  100  employed. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  these  are  all  hospital  cases.  We 
have  no  way  of  knowing  the  fuU  truth  about  lead  poisoning  in  this 
city  either  in  former  years  or  at  present. 

NUMBER  AND  KIND  OF  CASES  FOUND. 

In  the  present  investigation  records  were  secured  of  1,769  cases  of 
lead  poisoning  which  occurred  during  the  year  1912inl9of  the  lead 
smelting  and  refining  plants  visited.  The  twentieth,  a  newly  erected 
refinery,  had  not  been  in  operation  long  enough  for  cases  of  poisoning 
to  develop  among  the  men.  These  19  factories  employ  about  7,400 
men;  that  is,  7,400  represents  the  sum  of  their  average  pay  rolls.  It 
does  not  represent  the  actual  number  of  men  who  have  entered  and 
left,  or  still  remain  in  the  employ  of  these  19  plants. 

The  cases  of  lead  poisoning  were  secured  from  the  foUowing  sources : 
Hospitals,  347  cases;  physicians'  records,  1,320  cases;  and  102  cases 
reported  by  laymen. 

It  is  not  possible  with  the  scanty  information  which  has  been  ob- 
tained to  classify  these  1,769  cases  according  to  the  severity  of  the 
symptoms,  but  it  can  be  done  with  a  limited  number  because  the 
records  of  a  few  plants  are  fairly  fuU.  For  instance,  in  one  plant, 
among  175  cases  occm-ring  in  1912,  there  were  no  severe  ones,  41  were 
moderate,  and  134  mild.  In  another,  among  81  cases,  there  were  5 
severe,  17  moderate,  and  59  mUd. 


62 


BULLETIN   OF   THE   BUEEAU   OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 


1 


In  a  thii'd  plant  the  phj^sician  presented  a  record  which  had  few 
cases  of  lead  colic  but  many  cases  of  diseases  which  German  and 
Austrian  authorities  almost  always  include  in  their  lists  as  milder  and 
less  typical  forms  of  plumbism.  His  342  cases  were  divided  into: 
Lead  colic  52,  myalgia  and  lumbago  93,  indigestion  197. 

A  fourth  physician  had  kept  account  for  two  months  not  only  of 
the  severity  of  the  symptoms,  but  also  of  the  department  in  which  the 
man  had  worked,  so  that  his  records  show  which  kinds  of  work  give 
rise  to  the  more  serious  forms  of  poisoning.  Forty-four  of  his  66 
cases  were  mild,  22  were  moderately  severe.  They  were  distributed 
as  follows: 

CASES  or  LEAD  POISONING  RECORDED  BY  THE  PHYSICIAN  OF  A  CERTAIN  PLANT 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES,  ACCORDING  TO  SEVERITY  AND  DEPARTMENT  IN  WHICH 
EMPLOYED. 

CASES  RECORDED  FOR  TWO  MONTHS. 


Employed  in- 


Handling  ore 

Mills 

Sintering 

Blast  furnace: 

Feeding 

Tapping 

Settling    furnace    and    slag 

dump 

Converters 

Bag  house 

Motor  men 

Mechanics,  repairers,  furnace 
wreckers 


Moder- 
ately 
severe. 


Total  cases, 


66 


It  is  easier  to  get  information  covering  the  cases  of  encephalopathy 
(convulsions,  delirium,  insanity)  because  they  are  unusual  enough  to 
arrest  the  attention  of  the  physician  and  remain  in  his  memory;  the 
same  is  true  of  the  more  pronounced  and  lasting  forms  of  palsy.  It 
was  possible  to  gather  information  concerning  41  cases  of  convulsions 
or  delirium,  some  of  them  followed  by  temporary  insanity,  12  of  them 
ending  fatally.  These  all  occurred  in  1912.  It  was  also  possible  to 
obtain  records  of  35  cases  of  severe  and  more  or  less  persistent  palsy 
of  the  extensors  of  the  arms.  Thirty-two  of  the  cases  of  encephalop- 
athy were  reported  by  physicians,  9  by  laymen;  29  of  the  cases  of 
palsy  by  physicians  and  6  by  laymen.  The  61  cases  of  severe  nervous 
derangement  reported  by  doctors  would  represent  3.7  per  cent  of  the 
1,667  cases  which  came  from  prof essional  sources. 

The  only  plants  in  which  there  are  records  of  more  than  a  rare  case 
of  encephalopathy  are  the  three  which  have  open  hearths.  Twenty- 
one  of  the  32  cases  of  this  form  of  plumbism  reported  by  physicians 
came  from  these  three  plants  and  8  of  the  9  reported  by  the  men, 
leaving  only  12  for  all  the  other  plants.  The  cases  of  palsy  also  came 
chiefly  from  these  same  plants,  15  of  the  29  from  medical  sources  and 
4  of  the  6  from  lay  sources. 


LEAD  POISONING  IX  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD. 


63 


In  a  study  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  white  and  red  lead  industry  ^  it 
was  noted  that  Negroes  appeared  to  be  more  susceptible  to  the 
nervous  forms  of  plumbism  than  white  men.  This  seems  to  be  borne 
out  by  the  records  of  encephalopathy  in  lead  smelting.  Only  one  of 
the  plants  reporting  encephalopathy  employs  Negroes  to  any  extent. 
This  is  one  of  the  Scotch  hearth  plants  and  it  would  be  expected  that 
a  larger  number  of  such  cases  would  be  found  here  than  in  those 
plants  in  which  this  very  dangerous  kind  of  smelting  is  not  used. 
Still,  comparing  the  record  of  this  smelter  with  those  of  the  other  two 
smelters  in  wliich  there  are  Scotch  heartlis,  the  number  of  cases  of 
encephalopathy  is  found  to  be  large.  The  number  of  employees  and 
the  number  of  reported  cases  of  encephalopathy  in  three  Scotch 
hearth  plants  is  shown  by  the  following  table : 


CASES  OF  ENCEPHALOPATHY  REPORTED  AMONG  WHITE  AND  NEGRO  EMPLOYEES 
IN  3   SCOTCH   HEARTH   PLANTS  IN  2  YEARS. 

Employ- 
ees. 

Cases  of  encepha- 
lopathy. 

Race. 

Number. 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees 
per  year. 

White 

875 
110 

22               I.'? 

Negro 

15  1              ii.8 

The  Negroes  were  all  employed  in  one  smelter  which  has  Scotch 
hearths,  a  sublimed  white  lead  plant,  and  an  extensive  bag-house 
system.  Seventy-five  of  the  Scotch  hearth  men  were  Negroes,  and 
35  were  white.  The  45  sublimed  lead  men  were  white,  and  the  flue 
and  bag-house  work  was  done  by  white  men,  this  requiring  4  men  all 
the  time,  and  a  much  larger  number  at  intervals.  Thus  75  Negroes 
and  at  least  84  white  men  were  employed  in  the  three  most  dangerous 
divisions  of  the  plant.  The  following  shows  the  relative  incidence 
of  encephalopathy  among  the  Negroes  and  whites: 


CASES  OF  ENCEPHALOPATHY  REPORTED  AMONG  WHITE  AND  NEGRO  EMPLOYEES 
IN  THE  MOST  DANGEROUS  DIVISIONS  OF  A  SCOTCH  HEARTH  PLANT  IN  2  YEARS. 

Employ- 
ees. 

Cases  of  encepha- 
lopathy. 

Race. 

Number. 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees 
per  year. 

White 

S4 
75 

4 
15 

2.4 

Negro '. 

10.0 

Doctors  in  this  town  and  the  foremen  and  workmen  in  the  plant  all 
agreed  in  saying  that  the  Negroes  were  more  liable  to  this  form  of  lead 


1  Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  1912,  vol.  59,  p.  777. 


64  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOE    STATISTICS. 

poisoning  than  the  whites,  and  this  is  the  only  town  in  wiiich  "lead 
fits"  is  a  term  in  common  use.  That  the  Negroes  are  given  to  alco- 
holism is,  of  course,  true  in  many  instances,  but  they  are  said  to  be  not 
as  heavy  drinkers  on  the  whole  as  are  some  of  the  whites  employed  in 
this  smelter,  especially  the  American  born,  so  that  their  susceptibility 
to  lead  poisoning  of  the  central  nervous  system  can  not  be  explained 
on  this  gi'ound. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  draw  any  conclusions  as  to  the  cases  of  palsy 
on  our  list  because  the  only  ones  reported  were  the  striking  and  pro- 
nounced cases. 

As  has  been  found  in  other  lead  trades  which  employ  a  shifting  class 
of  workmen,  unskilled  or  semiskilled,  poorly  paid,  and  therefore  not 
bound  to  their  trade,  fatalities  from  lead  poisoning  are  not  numerous. 
A  severe  attack  of  colic  is  usually  enough  to  make  a  man  employed  in 
lead  smelting  quit  the  work,  and  chronic  plumbism  is  not  nearly  so 
frequent  as  it  is  in  a  skilled  trade,  such  as  painting  or  the  glazing  of 
pottery.  Only  16  fatal  cases  were  gathered  during  this  inquiry,  8  from 
hospitals'  or  doctors'  records,  and  8  from  the  men,  all  having  occurred 
during  1912.  The  8  deaths  reported  by  laymen  are,  of  course,  not  free 
from  doubt  as  are  those  obtained  from  physicians,  yet  they  can  not  be 
absolutely  rejected,  for  all  but  one  came  from  the  employees  of  two 
plants  in  which  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  any  information  from  the 
physicians  in  charge.  The  reports  were  given  by  priests,  by  fellow 
workmen,  and  by  relatives,  and  were  apparently  accurate.  The 
eighth  death  was  reported  by  the  man's  sister.  He  had  been  em- 
ployed on  an  open  hearth,  had  fallen  in  convulsions  in  the  street  one 
day  as  he  was  returning  from  work,  had  then  gone  to  the  countr37-  to 
recover,  and  died  shortly  after  in  a  second  convulsion. 

The  16  fatalities  were  scattered  through  8  plants,  the  3  open- 
hearth  smelters  being  responsible  for  9. 

PERIOD  OF  EXPOSURE  AND  ATTACK  RATE. 

"Whenever  it  was  possible  to  obtain  interviews  with  men  who  had 
had  lead  poisoning,  they  were  questioned  as  to  the  length  of  time 
they  had  worked  before  they  first  began  to  suffer  from  symptoms  of 
poisoning.  The  following  statement  shows  the  period  of  exposure 
of  167  cases  of  lead  poisoning  in  this  industry: 

Less  than  1  month 18 

1  and  less  than  2  months 19 

2  and  less  than  3  months 22 

3  and  less  than  4  months 33 

4  and  less  than  5  months , 17 

5  and  less  than  6  months 12 

6  and  let-s  than  1 2  months 11 

Total,  let-s  than  1  ye^r.: 132 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING   LEAD. 


65 


1  year  and  less  than  2  years 16 

2  and  less  than  3  years 8 

3  and  less  than  4  years 4 

4  and  less  than  5  years 1 

5  and  less  than  6  years 2 

6  and  less  than  7  years 

7  and  less  than  8  years 3 

8  and  less  than  9  years 

9  and  less  than  10  years 

Over  10  (30)  years 1 

Total,  over  1  year 35 

There  were  two  plants,  one  a  small  refinery  and  the  other  a  smelter 
with  ore  hearths,  in  which  information  was  available  as  to  the  length 
of  employment  of  the  men  who  showed  evidence  of  plumbism  and  of 
those  who  did  not.     This  is  given  in  the  following  table: 

LENGTH  OF  EMPLOYMENT  OF  MEN  WHO  SHOWED  AND  WHO  DID  NOT  SHOW 
EVIDENCE  OF  PLUMBISM,  IN  A  SMALL  REFINERY  AND  IN  A  SMELTER  WITH  ORE 
HEARTHS. 


Men  with  signs  of  plumbism. 

Normal  men. 

Employed — 

Smelting. 

Refining. 

Total. 

Employed— 

Smelting. 

Refining. 

Total. 

1 

4 

3 

5 

13 

15 

12 

5 

4 

1 

4 

3 

6 

17 

19 

19 

6 

4 

Less  than  1  month . 

1  to  6  months 

6  to  12montlis 

1  to  2  years 

34 

21 

2 

8 

21 

14 

2 

3 

3 

2 
3 
2 
4 
7 
1 

36 

24 

6to  12  months. .   . 

4 

1 

4 
4 
7 
1 

12 

2  to  5  years 

28 

5  to  1 0  years 

5  to  10  years 

10  to  15  years 

15  to  20  years 

Overdo  years 

Total 

15 

2 

15  to  20  years 

Over  20  years 

1 

4 
3 

Total 

62 

17 

79 

108 

20 

128 

Only  8  out  of  79  positive  cases,  or  10.1  per  cent,  had  worked  less 
than  1  year,  and  64  of  the  128  negative  cases,  or  50  per  cent.  For 
the  period  of  10  years  and  over,  the  rates  are  36,7  per  cent  for  the 
positive  cases  and  only  7  per  cent  for  the  negative.  Still,  3  men  who 
had  worked  for  more  than  20  years  did  not  even  show  the  lead  line. 

When  these  figures  are  compared  with  the  figures  which  show 
the  period  of  exposure  of  167  cases  of  lead  poisoning,  a  wide  diver- 
gence is  seen,  but  in  that  case  the  information  came  from  167 
men  who  were  suffering  from  acute  lead  poisoning,  most  of  whom 
had  already  quit  work  when  they  came  under  notice,  while  in  this 
case  we  have  to  do  with  a  working  force  actually  employed  at  the 
time,  the  majority  of  those  affected  showing  evidence  of  chronic,  not 
acute,  plumbism. 

31080°— Bull.  141—14 5 


66  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOE   STATISTICS. 

The  attack  rate  of  143  men  was  as  follows: 

1  attack  only 73 

2  attacks 14 

3  attacks 16 

4  attacks 4 

5  attacks 1 

6  attacks 1 

7  attacks 2 

8  attacks 1 

More  than  10  attacks 5 

"Many  attacks,"  "several  attacks,"  etc 26 

Total 143 

RELATIVE  DANGER  OF  DIFFERENT  KINDS  OF  WORK. 

There  is  just  one  plant  where  records  have  been  made  of  the  phys- 
ical condition  of  the  men  in  the  different  departments  showing  which 
kind  of  work  has  the  greatest  attendant  risk  of  lead  poisoning.  The 
figm'es  given  do  not  represent  attacks  of  acute  poisoning;  they  repre- 
sent the  number  of  men  who,  on  medical  examination,  were  found 
to  show  signs  of  chronic  plumbism. 

At  the  time  the  plant  was  visited,  232  men  had  been  recently  exam- 
ined, but  42  of  them  had  worked  only  one  month  or  less  than  a  month, 
and  in  the  case  of  16  the  employment  was  not  distinctly  stated, 
leaving  174  men,  distributed  as  follows: 

CASES  OF  PLUMBISM  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES  IN  A  CERTAIN  PLANT 
VISITED  ACCORDING  TO  CHARACTER  OF  WORK  PERFORMED. 


Occupation. 


Number 
exam- 
ined. 


Cases  of  plumbism. 


Number. 


Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 


Yard  gang,  unloading,  wheeling  charges,  etc. 

Furnaces 

Bag  house  and  flues 

Miscellaneous  refining,  repairing,  masons,  etc 


26 
119 


19.2 
31.1 
62.5 
14.3 


This  was  only  about  one-half  the  force,  and  the  number  of  men 
under  the  different  headings  do  not  represent  the  actual  proportion 
of  men  employed  in  the  different  departments,  for  they  were  not 
examined  in  any  particular  order.  The  blast  furnaces  here  are  poorly 
hooded  and  dangerous,  but  the  flue  and  bag-house  men  are  the 
worst  sufferers  in  the  plant. 

Out  of  174  men  examined  in  this  plant,  66  had  the  lead  line,  63 
had  pronounced  anemia,  50  a  history  of  recent  cohc,  and  11a  his- 
tory of  cohc  more  than  a  year  ago.  Five  had  palsy  and  one  a  history 
of  j)alsy. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD. 


67 


Another  record  which  throws  Ught  on  the  danger  of  different  kinds 
of  work  was  kept  during  two  months  of  1913  in  a  plant  employing 
regularly  622  men.  Sixty-five  cases  of  plumbism  occurred  in  those 
two  months.     Tlie  men  were  employed  as'  follows: 

CASES  OF  PLUMBISM  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES  DURING  TWO  MONTHS  OF  1913, 

BY  DEPARTMENTS. 


Department. 


Mills,  cmsbing  and  sampling. . , 

Ore  bins 

Sintering 

Blast  furnace  feeding 

Blast  furnace  tapping 

Settling  furnace  and  slag  dump 

Converters 

Miscellaneous 

Bag  house 


Number 

em- 
ployed. 


42 
45 
60 
35 
90 
18 
45 
280 
7 


Cases  of  plumbism. 


Number. 


Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 


14.3 
13.3 
10.0 
20.0 
23.3 
33.3 
6.7 
2.5 
42.9 


These  would  be  high  rates  for  a  whole  year,  and  this  record  covers 
only  two  months. 

The  following  shows  the  record  for  1905  in  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  German  smelter  at  Tarnowitz,  the  Friedrichshiitte.^ 

CASES  OF  PLUMBISM  AND  RATE  PER  100  EMPLOYEES  IN  THE  GERMAN  SMELTER  AT 
TARNOWITZ,  BY  DEPARTMENTS,  190S. 


Department. 


Num^ber 

em- 
ployed. 


Cases  of  plumbism. 


Number. 


Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 


Sintering,  H.  H.  pots 

Blast  furnace 

Desilvering,  refining,  cupeling,  etc 

Retorts , 

Miscellaneous 

Total 


83 

247 
75 
14 

347 


13.3 
10.9 
5.3 
7.1 
2.0 


766 


6.5 


In  Collis's  report  of  an  examination  of  men  engaged  in  different 
processes  in  smelting  it  is  shown  that  the  men  at  the  furnaces  had 
a  shorter  average  duration  of  employment  and  a  larger  percentage 
of  them  had  the  lead  line  than  was  true  of  the  general  laborers  or 
the  men  at  the  melting  pot.  The  general  laborers  suffered  more  than 
the  others  from  impaired  extensor  strength  in  the  forearms,  the 
furnace  men  coming  next.  Men  at  the  melting  pot  had  the  longest 
average  duration  of  employment. ^ 

1  Krankheiten  der  Arbiter  in  Blei-,  Silber-,  Zinh  iind  QuecksilberMtten,  by  P.  Laureck.    In  AVeyl's 
Handbuch  der  Arbeiterkrankheiten,  p.  37. 

2  Lead  Smelting.    Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious  Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials  con- 
taining Lead.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  H.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories,  1910y  p.  6. 


68  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUKEAU    OF    LABOE    STATISTICS. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE   SEASONS. 

There  is  a  decided  seasonal  variation  in  the  incidence  of  lead 
poisoning  in  this  industry.  If  we  plot  a  curve  based  on  the  three 
heaviest  months  in  each  of  33  hospital  years,  or  if  we  make  the 
curve  represent  the  months  in  which  2,847  hospital  cases  occurred 
we  arrive  at  the  same  result.  The  highest  points  are  reached  in 
January  and  June.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  the  reason  for  this 
curve.  Physicians  and  superintendents  explain  the  rise  during  the 
fall  months  as  due  to  the  onset  of  cold  weather,  causing  the  men  to 
close  windows  and  doors,  to  stay  near  the  furnaces  for  warmth,  and 
to  eat  their  lunch  indoors  instead  of  outdoors.  As  for  the  summer 
rise,  they  are  usually  ready  enough  to  explain  it  on  the  ground  of 
greater  skin  absorption  during  hot  weather,  but  if  that  were  the  case 
then  July  and  August  should  show  even  higher  numbers  ^an  June. 
The  most  probable  explanation  seems  to  be  that  these  June  cases 
are  the  acute  cases  of  poisoning  which  occur  among  newly  hired 
employees.  During  the  spring  there  is  a  great  exodus  of  the  regular 
force  from  these  smelters,  the  men  going  off  to  work  on  the  farms 
or  railroads,  and  there  is  a  corresponding  entrance  of  new  men, 
some  of  them  very  susceptible  to  lead  poisoning,  most  of  them 
inexperienced  and  careless.  By  June  they  have  worked  for  8  to  12 
weeks,  and  have  become  poisoned,  for,  as  has  already  been  shown, 
the  majority  of  cases  of  acute  plumbism  among  lead  smelters  occur 
after  less  than  4  months'  exposure. 

One  smelting  expert  suggested  that  the  two  crests  of  the  curve 
were  coincident  with  the  dates  of  flue-cleaning  operations,  but  a 
careful  inquiry  has  failed  to  show  that  there  is  any  such  regular 
periodicity  in  flue  cleaning  in  the  western  smelters  from  which  most 
of  these  statistics  come. 

METHOD  OF  COLLECTING  CASES. 

The  1,769  cases  given  in  these  lists  do  not  represent  all  the  cases 
of  lead  poisoning  which  occurred  in  a  year's  time  in  these  19  plants 
because  the  methods  followed  in  collecting  them  could  not  possibly 
yield  full  and  accurate  results.  Hospital  records  can  be  looked  on 
as  above  criticism,  and  the  347  cases  on  our  lists  are  probably  all 
the  cases  of  plumbism  treated  by  these  hospitals  during  1912,  for 
lead  poisoning  is  an  old  story  to  the  physicians  in  smelting  towns 
and  it  is  very  improbable  that  any  case  escaped  diagnosis  in  the 
hospital.  But  there  are  only  9  of  the  19  plants  whose  men  were 
sent  to  hospitals,  except  as  an  unusual  emergency,  and  even  these 
9  do  not  send  all  their  cases  to  the  hospital.  The  less  serious  ones 
are  especially  likely  to  be  treated  outside. 

1  Collis,  op.  cit.,  p.  6. 


LEAD  POISONIiSTG  IN   SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  69 

The  next  source  of  information,  the  records  of  doctors,  is  open  to 
many  criticisms.  The  company  doctor  who  is  well  trained  in  diagno- 
sis, who  examines  all  the  men  once  a  month  and  writes  down  the 
results,  is  the  only  one  who  can  give  full  information.  There  are 
two  refineries  in  Illinois  which  are  served  by  doctors  of  this  type 
and  lor  these  two  plants  we  have  entered  the  number  of  cases  as 
given  by  their  records,  further  search  having  revealed  no  additional 
cases.  One  physician  outside  Illinois  had  made  a  thorough  exami- 
nation of  more  than  one-hall  of  the  men  employed  in  the  plant  and 
his  records  for  these  men  were  entirely  above  criticism.  It  must  be 
said,  however,  that  it  is  difficult  to  discover  all  of  the  cases  of  lead 
poisoning,  even  mth  a  regular  examination,  for  the  very  proper  pro- 
cedure followed  by  some  company  doctors  of  suspending  from  work  a 
man  who  is  suspected  of  plumbism  has  sometimes  the  unfortunate 
effect  of  making  the  men  conceal  their  sjrmptoms.  This  is  especially 
true  of  those  who  hold  the  better  paid  places,  such  as  the  ore-hearth 
men,  who  sometimes  are  found  to  have  been  under  the  care  of  an  out- 
side physician  for  weeks  while  they  were  insisting  to  the  company 
doctor  that  they  were  in  perfect  health.  It  is,  of  course,  very  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  diagnosis  of  lead  poisoning  upon  observation  alone 
if  the  man  refuses  to  admit  that  he  has  any  symptoms. 

In  the  case  of  the  other  16  plants  the  physicians  do  not  see  aU  of  the 
cases  of  lead  poisoning  that  develop,  for  they  treat  only  the  men  who 
come  to  them  for  advice,  and  there  are  some  workmen  who  distrust 
the  company  doctor  simply  because  he  is  the  company  doctor.  Also 
there  are  foreigners  who  prefer  men  of  their  own  nationality  and  who 
will  sometimes  go  off  to  the  nearest  city  to  find  one,  thus  escaping 
entirely  the  notice  of  the  physician  employed  by  the  company. 
Besides  this,  the  doctor  who  sees  only  the  men  who  come  to  him  with 
the  complaint  of  illness  will  fail  to  include  in  his  records  the  incipient 
cases  not  yet  developed  to  the  point  of  alarming  the  patient  and  also 
the  chronic  cases  with  minor  symptoms.  Therefore  no  physician, 
no  matter  how  careful  and  accurate  he  is,  can  report  every  case 
occurring  in  the  plant  unless  he  sees  aU  of  the  men  at  regular  intervals. 

But  not  aU  physicians  are  entirely  careful  and  accurate,  and  not 
all  are  sufficiently  accessible  to  the  men.  Some  of  them  do  make 
frequent,  even  daily,  visits  to  the  plant  and  may  be  approached  by 
the  men  without  any  formahty.  On  the  other  hand,  others  come 
only  when  they  are  sent  for  and  the  men  are  supposed  to  get  an  order 
from  their  foreman  and  go  to  the  doctor's  office  if  they  wish  to  see 
him. 

It  was  of  course  necessary  to  make  a  further  search  ior  lead  poi- 
soning in  places  where  the  information  obtained  from  the  doctor 
was  very  unsatisfactory.  Other  physicians  were  visited,  and  also 
apothecaries,  priests,   and  men  who  were  known  to  have  a  wide 


70  BULLETIN"   OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF   LABOR   STATISTICS. 

acquaintance  among  certain  of  the  nationalities  employed.  These 
outside  physicians  could  sometimes  swell  the  number  of  cases  very 
decidedly,  especially  in  two  towns  where  the  company  doctors  are 
dishked  and  distrusted  by  the  men.  For  instance,  in  one  of  these 
towns  two  doctors  gave  records  of  144  cases  which  had  occurred  in  15 
months'  time  in  the  plant.  Though  the  wage  scale  in  this  refinery 
is  low,  as  in  all  refineries,  and  the  men  have  been  obliged  to  pay  for 
the  services  of  the  company  doctor,  they  are  willing  to  pay  again  in 
order  to  have  a  doctor  who  can  speak  their  language  and  whom  they 
can  trust. 

However,  few  doctors  in  general  practice  keep  records,  and  as  a 
usual  thing  these  outside  physicians  could  not  do  more  than  confirm 
the  investigator's  behef  as  to  the  existence  of  lead  poisoning  in  a 
certain  plant,  for  it  was  considered  best  not  to  give  the  same  weight 
to  general  statements  as  to  records  of  individual  cases.  Such  state- 
ments as  "  12  cases  a  month  last  year,"  or  "  about  40  in  the  course  of  a 
year,"  were  noted,  but  the  figures  were  not  included  in  the  statistics 
of  lead  poisoning  given  in  this  report.  Had  that  been  done  the  fist 
would  have  been  increased  by  some  700  cases,  but  we  could  not  have 
been  sure  that  we  were  not  counting  the  same  case  more  than  once. 

The  cases  gathered  from  nonprofessional  sources  which  were  de- 
scribed with  enough  particularity  to  seem  trustworthy,  but  which 
lack  medical  confirmation,  have  been  listed  separately.  They  form, 
however,  less  than  one-seventeenth  of  the  total  number  of  cases. 
Among  them  are  cases  reported  by  priests,  who  have  visited  the 
men  in  their  sickness  and  in  some  instances  attended  them  at 
death.  These  priests  could  often  give  inside  information  as  to  the 
character  of  the  plant,  the  increase  or  decrease  of  accidents  and 
sickness  among  the  men,  and  above  all  as  to  the  relations  be- 
tween doctor  and  men.  Another  good  source  of  information  is  the 
apothecary,  especially  the  Slavic  or  Hmigarian,  for  he  often  sees 
cases  wliich  never  reach  a  physician  and  he  grows  fairly  skiUful 
in  diagnosis.  The  remaining  cases  in  this  class  were  reported  by  the 
men  themselves  or  by  relatives  or  by  fellow  workmen. 

Therefore  as  regards  the  figures  of  lead  poisoning,  given  above,  we 
beheve  we  are  justified  in  claiming  that  the  degree  of  lead  poisoning 
among  the  workmen  in  these  plants  is  decidedly  higher  than  our 
figures  show,  since  the  sources  of  information  which  were  drawn  upon 
for  them  were  almost  always  insufficient  and  since  the  standard 
apphed  was  strict  and  no  doubtful  cases  were  included. 

It  may  be  well  to  give  a  summary  of  the  records  of  some  of  the 
physicians  attached  to  smelting  plants  to  show  that  it  is  not  an  over- 
estimate when  we  say  that  the  rate  of  lead  poisoning  in  the  lead- 
smelting  industry  is  at  least  22  in  100. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD. 


71 


CASES     OF   LEAD    POISONING    AND    RATE     PER     100     EMPLOYEES     REPORTED   BY 
PHYSICIANS  OF  G  SMELTING  PLANTS  IN  1912. 


Average 
monthly 
pay  roll. 

Cases  of  lead  poi- 
soning. 

Plant. 

Number. 

Rate  per 
100  em- 
ployees. 

No.  13          

4.30 
600 
6.30 
300 
GOO 
3.50 

81 
120 
175 

85 
204 
183 

18.0 

Kg  17                                                   

18.2 

No.  12                                        

27.5 

No.  11                  

28.3 

Ko.  18                                           

34.0 

No.  20                 

52.3 

There  was  a  seventh  plant  which,  in  a  force  of  623  men,  had  65 
cases  of  lead  poisoning  in  two  months'  time.  If  this  rate  were  kept 
up  during  the  year,  it  would  mean  390  cases  or  about  62.6  per  100, 
but  we  do  not  know  whether  this  record  did  persist  throughout  the 
year. 

The  results  of  three  house-to-house  canvasses,  which  were  made  in 
smelting  villages,  are  pertment  here.  Two  of  the  villages  were  near 
smelters  with  ore  hearths,  the  third  near  the  usual  type  of  smelter 
without  ore  hearths.  The  houses  were  visited  haphazard  and  the 
men  or  their  wives  interviewed  in  the  effort  to  ascertain  whether  or 
not  the  man  had  ever  suffered  from  lead  cohc  or  palsy.  In  the  first 
village  42  were  questioned,  of  whom  26  gave  a  history  of  lead  colic 
and  3  of  palsy  as  weU,  while  16  had  never  been  poisoned.  In  the 
second  village  21  were  interviewed;  12  had  had  lead  cohc,  9  had  not. 
In  the  third  viUage  17  out  of  30  had  had  cohc,  2  of  them  palsy  also, 
while  13  had  not. 

MEDICAL  SUPERVISION. 

Lead  smelting  is  an  industry  attended  with  a  certain  amount  of 
risk  of  accident,  and  in  consequence  it  has  long  been  the  custom  of 
the  employers  to  engage  physicians  whose  duty  at  first  had  to  do 
chiefly  with  cases  of  accidental  injury.  This  system  was  advan- 
tageous to  the  company  in  view  of  possible  suits  for  damages  and  prob- 
ably also  to  the  men  since  it  insured  the  prompt  attention  of  a  sur- 
geon who  was  hkely  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  the  town.  It  was  natural 
that  many  of  these  physicians  should  gradually  come  to  take  charge 
of  cases  of  lead  poisoning  also,  and  finally  of  all  forms  of  sickness. 
At  present  every  one  of  the  plants  which  form  the  subject  of  this 
study  has  at  least  one  physician  who  gives  more  or  less  regular 
attendance  to  the  employees.  In  a  well-managed  smelter  the  physi- 
cian comes  out  at  regular  intervals  to  the  plant,  where  he  is  usually 
assigned  a  room  for  his  use,  and  he  is  at  the  service  of  any  man  who 
wishes  to  consult  him.  No  formality  is  needed  beyond  the  foreman's 
permission  for  the  man  to  quit  work.     Often  the  company  has  an 


72  BULLETIN"    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

arrangement  with  some  hospital  and  sends  there  the  serious  cases  and 
those  who  could  not  be  properly  cared  for  at  home,  the  expenses 
being  paid  out  of  the  sickness  insurance  fund.  Where  there  is  no 
hospital,  the  company  doctor  attends  cases  of  disabling  sickness  in 
the  men's  homes. 

The  arrangement  is  not  always  so  good  as  this.  Some  physicians 
go  to  the  plant  only  when  they  are  summoned  for  an  accident  or  for 
an  acute  attack  of  lead  poisoning  occurring  at  the  plant.  If  the  men 
wish  attention,  they  must  get  an  order  from  the  foreman  and  go  to 
a  doctor's  office,  which  may  be  miles  away.  No  plant  was  found  in 
which  there  was  absolutely  no  provision  for  medical  care,  though  the 
amount  and  character  of  the  service  given  varies  greatly.  There  are 
some  physicians  who  act  only  as  medical  attendants  and  know 
nothing  at  all  about  conditions  in  the  plant,  who  lecture  the  men 
about  washing  their  hands  without  ever  asking  if  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  do  so,  and  who  do  not  know  enough  about  the  work  to  be  able 
to  say  from  which  department  most  of  the  lead  poisoning  comes. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  physicians  who  act  as  consulting  sanitary 
experts,  who  go  over  the  plant  frequently,  keep  track  of  the  men,  and 
notify  the  superintendent  when  any  department  is  sending  in  an 
unusual  number  of  cases. 

In  their  relation  to  their  patients,  too,  we  can  find  aU  types  of  physi- 
cians in  these  plants,  from  the  doctor  who  is  feared  and  suspected 
by  the  men  to  the  one  whom  they  gladly  seek  out  when  they  are  ill 
and  caU  on  to  take  care  of  their  wives  and  children. 

Ignorance  and  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  company  doctor  can  not 
be  controlled  by  legal  machinery;  it  must  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
manager,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  company  officials  do  not  always  reaHze 
how  important  a  matter  this  is,  how  much  the  doctor  influences  the 
attitude  of  the  workmen,  making  them  hostile  toward  their  employers 
or  winning  their  confidence  and  loyalty.  In  talking  with  workmen 
in  the  privacy  of  their  homes  where  they  can  speak  freely,  one  is 
always  impressed  by  the  large  part  the  doctor  plays  and  the  influence 
he  has  on  their  attitude  toward  the  company. 

Of  course  the  employer  reaUy  wants  first-class  medical  and  surgical 
service,  for  he  knows  that  the  efficiency  of  his  workmen  depends 
largely  on  this,  but  unfortunately,  such  service  is  not  an  easy  thing  to 
gauge.  The  results  of  good  sanitation  and  medical  care  show  them- 
selves slowly  and  seldom  with  indubitable  clearness.  They  can  not  be 
calculated  as  can  the  results  of  new  machinery,  and  therefore  the 
neglect  or  incompetence  of  the  doctor  may  escape  detection  by  his 
employers.  It  does  not  occur,  for  instance,  to  the  manager  of  a 
certain  large  refinery  that  there  is  any  connection  between  the  almost 
impossible  shifting  character  of  his  force  of  Slavic  workmen  and  the 
brutal  manners  of  the  company  doctor,  who  despises  his  patients, 


LEAD  POISONING  IN   SMELTING  AND  REFINING   LEAD.  73 

can  not  speak  their  language,  and  gives  them  the  impression  that  he 
cares  only  to  shield  the  company  against  possible  damage  suits. 

For  thorough  medical  supervision,  there  should  certainly  be  regular 
inspection  of  all  of  the  men  at  stated  intervals,  as  there  is  in  Germany 
and  in  Great  Britain.^  But  whatever  system  is  adopted,  its  success 
depends  on  the  skill  and  character  of  the  doctor,  and  on  his  character, 
perhaps,  more  than  on  his  skill.  There  are  plants  in  IlHnois  which 
with  the  regular  inspection  required  by  the  law  do  not  give  as  good 
medical  care  to  the  men  as  do  several  plants  outside  Ilhnois  where 
such  inspection  is  not  practiced.  A  physician  who  is  not  naturally 
overthorough,  whose  sympathies  are  not  easily  aroused,  and  who 
knov7s  that  his  tenure  of  office  depends  on  superintendent  or  manager, 
may  easily  fall  into  careless  superficial  habits  with  his  patients  and 
make  up  for  it  by  scrupulous  attention  to  the  company's  interest  in 
accident  suits. 

At  present  the  medical  service  given  in  these  20  plants  may  be 
classed  as  excellent  in  9,  fair  in  5,  and  poor  in  6. 

SICKNESS  AND  ACCIDENT  INSURANCE. 

There  is  some  form  of  accident  and  sickness  insurance  in  all  these 
smelters  and  refineries,  usually  the  following : 

A  sum  which  runs  from  60  cents  to  $1.50  is  deducted  from  the 
monthly  wage  of  each  man  and  goes  to  the  insurance  fund.  Out  of 
this  is  paid  the  salary  of  the  physician  and  his  assistant,  if  he  has  one, 
the  hospital  expenses  in  case  the  company  sends  its  employees  to  a 
hospital,  and  half  pay  for  the  men  who  are  disabled  by  accidental 
injuries.  Men  who  have  industrial  lead  poisoning  do  not  receive 
half  pay. 

The  sum  of  $1  a  month,  which  is  what  the  men  contribute  in  the 
greater  number  of  plants,  is  often  sufiicient  to  cover  all  expenses, 
and  the  company  need  not  contribute  anything.  In  three  plants  it 
was  stated  that  $1  was  ample,  while  in  another  the  manager  stated 
that  75  cents  a  month  would  be  sufficient  for  all  demands  and  that  $1 
would  mean  a  surplus.  In  other  plants,  however,  $1  or  even  $1.50 
is  not  enough  to  cover  expenses  and  the  company  must  make  a 
contribution  almost  every  month. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  expenses  of  medical  care  and  insurance 
are  often  fully  covered  by  the  men's  contribution  when  one  considers 
that  it  is  the  custom  in  the  majority  of  these  plants  (outside  Ilfinois) 
to  collect  the  sickness  insurance  for  the  whole  month  during  the  first 
week  of  a  man's  employment.  If  then  he  leaves  at  the  end  of  the 
week  and  another  takes  his  place,  the  dollar  is  collected  from  the 

1  For  foreign  regulations  ccnceming  medical  care  cf  workers  employed  in  industries  inTolving  risk  of 
lead  poisoning,  see  Appendix  V. 


74  BULLETIISr    OP    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

latter  also,  so  that  it  is  conceivable  that  $3  or  even  $4  may  be  col- 
lected from  the  successive  holders  of  one  job  in  one  month's  time. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  $1,100  was  collected  during  August,  1913,  from 
the  employees  of  a  lead  and  copper  smelter  whose  average  daily 
pay  roll  is  only  835  men. 

This  system  of  accident  and  sickness  insurance  is  singularly  gen- 
erous to  the  company,  which  thus  throws  back  upon  the  men  the 
larger  part,  if  not  all,  of  the  expense  of  occupational  accident  and 
disease.  The  company  also  selects  the  doctor,  has  control  of  him, 
and  commands  his  loyalty,  yet  is  not  obliged  to  pay  him  anything, 
or  at  the  most  only  a  small  part  of  his  salary.  Nor  have  the  men  any 
possible  redress  if  the  doctor  neglects  his  duty. 

There  are,  however,  other  methods  of  managing  sickness  and 
accident  insurance.  The  Illinois  occupational  disease  law,  which  was 
passed  in  1911,  makes  it  incumbent  on  employers  to  provide  for  a 
monthly  medical  examination  of  all  the  men  in  their  employ  who 
come  in  contact  with  lead  or  its  salts.  The  physician  retained  for 
this  service  naturally  gives  treatment  as  well.  He  is,  of  course,  paid 
entirely  by  his  employers.  The  Picher  Lead  Co.  has  a  system  more 
like  ordinary  industrial  insurance.  The  men  pay  15  cents  weekly 
apiece  and  the  company  puts  in  an  equal  amount  for  each  man.  In 
this  plant  not  only  is  medical  care  given,  but  a  systematic  examina- 
tion made  as  in  the  IlUnois  plants. 

In  the  International  Smelter  at  Tooele  the  $1  collected  fi'om  the 
men  goes  for  medical  services  only,  the  company  paying  full  wages 
to  men  incapacitated  by  injury.  The  doctors  hold  their  positions 
only  as  long  as  they  give  satisfaction  to  the  men. 

The  St.  Joseph  Lead  Co.  in  Herculaneum  employs  two  physicians 
to  care  for  their  accident  cases.  The  company  has  built  a  dispensary 
for  them  and  pays  the  expenses  of  all  accident  cases  and  of  all  cases 
of  sickness  which  are  sent  by  the  doctors  to  the  hospital  at  Bonne 
Terre  or  to  some  St.  Louis  hospital.  It  is  optional  with  the  men 
whether  or  not  they  will  employ  these  doctors  for  sickness.  If  a 
man  decides  to  do  so,  the  company  deducts  $1  monthly  from  his  pay 
and  gives  it  to  the  doctor,  and  for  this  sum  the  man  is  entitled  to 
medical  care  for  himself  and  his  family.  Practically  all  the  men, 
except  some  of  the  "floaters,"  avail  themselves  of  tliis  arrangement, 
but  the  mere  fact  that  it  is  optional,  that  the  men  may  save  that  $1 
if  they  choose  and  go  to  a  doctor  in  a  nearby  town,  gives  them  the 
normal  attitude  of  patients  toward  their  physician  and  is  certainly 
not  without  its  effect  on  the  physician's  attitiUle  toward  them.  It 
would  seem  fairer,  however,  for  the  company  to  bear  at  least  a  share 
of  the  expense  of  medical  treatment,  especially  in  cases  of  disease 
distinctly  traceable  to  the  men's  work. 


LEAD  POISONING  IX  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  75 

CHARACTER  OF  EMPLOYEES. 

The  men  employed  in  lead  smelting  and  refining  are  for  the  most 
part  foreign  born  of  different  nationalities,  often  newly  arrived  immi- 
grants unable  to  speak  English  and  unacquainted  with  the  dangers 
of  the  work  they  undertake.  This  does  not  mean  that  they  do  not 
know  the  work  is  dangerous,  for  usually  they  have  been  warned  by 
their  fellow-countrymen,  who  have  aheady  worked  in  the  plant, 
but  they  have  no  idea  how  to  protect  themselves  against  the  dangers. 
On  the  Atlantic  seaboard  the  men  are  chiefly  Austrian  Slavs,  and  the 
same  nationahties  are  found  in  and  around  Chicago,  vnih  Magyars 
in  addition.  As  we  go  farther  west  the  mixture  of  nationahties 
increases.  In  the  Federal  plant  near  Alton  there  were  in  the  spring 
of  1913  about  200  American-born  whites  and  25  Negroes,  the  rest 
being  Germans,  Italians,  Slavs,  and  Greeks.  The  Itahans  were 
employed  at  the  heaviest  work,  loading  and  unloading  cars,  the 
Vjrreeks  and  Austrians  in  the  yard  and  on  blast  furnaces,  the  negroes 
in  the  refinery,  and  the  American  whites  on  the  ore  hearths  and  in 
the  powerhouse.  In  CoUinsviUe  the  employees  are  Negroes,  American- 
bom  whites,  Lithuanians,  Itahans,  Syrians,  Mexicans,  and  Germans. 
The  Hoyt  Metal  Co.,  in  Granite  City,  employs  Turks,  Armenians, 
and  Macedonians  in  addition  to  other  nationahties.  At  Herculaneum 
the  force  consists  of  a  much  larger  proportion  of  American-born 
whites,  some  of  whom  are  regular  smelters  by  trade,  while  some  are 
farmers  working  at  smelting  only  in  winter.  Some  of  these  are 
descendants  of  Washington  County  French.  There  are  also  Slavs, 
who  form  the  more  sliifting  part  of  the  force.  In  Jophn  alone  the 
men  are  all  Americans,  many  of  whom  come  from  Arkansas  farms, 
work  through  the  cold  season,  and  return  home  in  the  spring.  Tliis 
alternation  of  employment  is  exceUent  for  the  men's  health,  and  it  is 
fairly  general  in  the  smelting  industry.  In  Colorado  the  beet  fields 
draw  the  men  for  the  summer  months,  while  the  Slavs  and  Greeks  of 
Chicago  and  southern  Ilhnois  go  off  on  railroad-extension  work. 

LeadviUe,  Salida,  and  Denver  have  chiefly  Austro-Hungarians  and 
Greeks,  with  a  few  Itahans  and  Russians.  Pueblo  has  more  Italians 
and  has  also  Mexicans.  Montenegrins  are  found  m  the  Utah  smelters, 
in  addition  to  other  southeastern  Europeans.  In  1911  a  census  of  the 
Omaha  Smelting  &  Refining  Co.  gave  the  following  nationalities: 
Itahans,  134;  Austrians,  82;  Hungarians,  85;  Americans,  59;  Bohe- 
mians, 53;  Irish,  20;  Poles,  18;  Swedes,  12;  Germans,  11.  In  1913 
the  East  Helena  plant  had  92  Austrians  and  44  Americans,  the  re- 
maining 56  men  being  scattered  among  no  less  than  17  different 
nationahties.  In  all  these  smelters  there  is  always  at  least  a  small 
proportion  of  skilled  American-born  or  northern  European  workmen 
holding  the  better-paid  places. 


76  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

The  force  is  roughly  divided  into  the  yard  gang,  employed  at  day 
wages  for  a  9  or  10  hour  day  (8  hours  in  Colorado)  and  the  inside  men 
who  work  for  8  hours,  three  shifts,  in  the  western  plants  and  in  Perth 
Amboy,  or  for  12  hours,  two  shifts,  in  Graselh,  East  Chicago,  South 
Chicago,  and  Newark.  In  one  typical  smelting  plant  the  yard  gang 
numbers  175  to  200,  the  inside  men  90  to  100.  In  one  large  refinery 
the  yard  gang,  including  repairing  men,  has  300;  the  converters  and 
blast  furnaces,  250;  the  refinery,  90. 

Wages  in  the  largest  eastern  plant  were  given  as  20  cents  an  hour 
for  men  in  the  yard  gang,  who  work  9  hours,  and  25  cents  anhourf  or  the 
inside  men,  who  work  8  hours.  In  East  Chicago  the  day  wage  is  S1.75; 
piecework  averages  $3  a  day.  In  Collinsville  and  Federal  the  day 
wage  is  $1.65  to  $1.80;  the  work  on  the  ore  hearths,  in  dust  collecting 
system,  and  in  unloading  cars  is  piecework,  and  for  this  the  men  are 
paid  from  $2.25  to  $3.00  a  day.  Farther  west  the  wage  for  day 
labor  rises,  but  that  for  more  skilled  work. hardly  changes  at  all. 
Thus,  in  Herculaneum  and  in  Omaha  day  laborers  are  paid  $1.65 
a  day,  in  Denver  $1.75,  in  LeadviUe  and  in  Salt  Lake  City  $2,  in 
Tooele  and  in  East  Helena  $2.25  or  $2.35,  while  in  all  these  plants 
$2.35  to  $3  was  given  as  the  wage  for  skilled  work.  Mechanics, 
repairers,  plumbers,  blacksmiths,  etc.,  are  not  included  here. 

Many  vague  charges  of  alcoholic  excess  are  brought  against  the 
men  employed  in  lead  smelting,  but  not  often  by  the  people  who  know 
them  best — their  own  foremen  and  employers.  That  Slavic,  Magyar, 
Italian,  and  German  workmen  drink  beer,  wine,  and  even  whisky 
is  readily  admitted,  but  they  are  not  regarded  as  an  intemperate  class 
of  men  on  the  whole,  nor  are  the  Negroes.  It  is  really  in  the  plants 
v/here  many  American  workmen  are  employed  that  one  hears  most 
complaint  of  alcoholism,  perhaps  because  American  workmen  can  not 
stand  alcohol  so  well  as  Europeans. 

The  workers  are  a  very  shifting  lot  of  men  and  even  the  cash  bonus 
offered  by  one  large  company  to  men  who  remain  as  long  as  a  year 
in  its  employ  is  not  inducement  enough  to  make  them  stay.  This 
refinery  had  succeeded  in  keeping  less  than  30  per  cent  of  the  force 
as  long  as  one  year  at  the  time  it  was  visited.  Naturally  such  a 
state  of  things  results  in  far  more  lead  poisoning  among  the  men  than 
is  found  in  a  plant  where  the  workmen  remain  for  years,  acquire  a 
fair  amount  of  skill,  and  learn  the  risks  to  which  they  are  exposed. 

The  Austrian  commission's  report  lays  especial  stress  on  the  danger 
of  a  continually  changing  personnel,  and  ascribes  the  high  rate  of  lead 
poisoning  in  the  Scheriau  smelter  largely  to  the  fact  that  the  labor 
employed  there  is  ignorant  and  shifting.  In  1903,  500  men  were 
taken  on  in  this  plant  to  keep  up  a  monthly  pay  roll  of  only  91,  and 
among  the  153  men  reported  on  by  the  physician  there  were  39  cases 
of  lead  colic  and  31  of  gastro-intestinal  catarrh. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING   LEAD.  77 

The  German  factory  inspectors  also  speak  of  the  trouble  arising 
from  casual  workers.  In  the  Walter  Croneck  smelter,  in  Silesia,  a 
certain  proportion  of  the  employees  come  from  Ruthenia  and,  hke  the 
foreign  employees  in  American  smelters,  they  do  not  understand  the 
language  of  the  country;  they  enter  the  industry  only  as  a  temporary 
expedient  and  during  the  short  period  that  they  work  they  live  in 
crowded,  unsanitary  quarters  and  do  not  have  sufficient  food.  In 
1911,  233  Ruthenians  were  employed  in  the  Walter  Croneck  plant 
and  of  these  192  left  work  and  71  remained  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
The  native  German  workmen,  numbering  160,  had  only  9  cases  of 
lead  poisoning,  while  60  Ruthenians  had  16  cases.  This  plant 
increased  its  force  in  1902  and  the  increase  in  lead  poisoning  was 
at  once  perceptible.  In  1901  there  were  13  cases  among  73  men 
(17.8  per  cent);  in  1902,  35  cases  among  129  men  (27.1  j)er  cent), 
showing  that  there  were  susceptible  men  among  the  newly  employed.^ 

Although  almost  all  of  the  managers  of  American  plants  complain 
of  the  shifting  character  of  their  labor,  the  condition  is  worse  on  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Chicago  and  St.  Louis 
than  in  western  Missouri,  Colorado,  and  Omaha.  The  following  are 
some  of  the  statements  made  by  superintendents  as  to  the  shifting 
character  of  the  men  employed  by  them: 

''From  25  per  cent  to  30  per  cent  new  men  must  be  employed  every 
month." 

*'We  can  not  get  steady  workmen;  we  are  always  losing  our  men, 
though  we  pay  more  than  the  usual  rate  of  wages." 

"Not  30  per  cent  have  been  here  as  long  as  one  year,  and  those  who 
do  stay  average  only  20  days'  work  a  month." 

"In  one  month  25  out  of  92  men  quit  work." 

"Not  many  of  the  men  stay  more  than  two  months.  We  always 
prepare  for  the  semimonthly  pay  day  by  sending  to  the  employment 
agencies  in  St.  Louis  and  Chicago." 

"Six  hundred  and  thirty  are  employed  all  the  time,  but  there  were 
800  on  the  books  last  month." 

"The  monthly  pay  roll  is  350,  but  100  new  men  were  employed 
during  August,  25  on  the  blast  furnace  alone." 

In  only  two  plants  could  accurate  information  be  obtained  as  to 
the  length  of  employment  of  the  men  then  at  work.  In  one,  out 
of  238  men,  52  had  been  there  less  than  1  month,  91  less  than  6 
months,  106  less  than  1  year,  while  exactly  one-half  the  force,  119 
men,  had  been  employed  less  than  2  years.  On  the  other  hand,  75 
had  been  employed  over  5  years  and  13  over  20  years. 

1  Gewerbliche  Vergiftungen   deren  Vorkommen,   Erscheinungen,   Behandlung   und  Verhiitung.     J, 
Eambousek,  Leipzig,  1911,  p.  Ic6. 


78  BULLETIISr   OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

The  second  plant  gave  a  more  detailed  report,  as  follows : 

Employed  less  than  1  year 298 

1  to  2  years 75 

2  to  3  years 48 

3  to  4  years 35 

4  to  6  years 39 

6  to  8  years 22 

8  to  10  years 14 

10  to  15  years 15 

15  to  20  years 16 

Over  20  and  under  30  years 53 

Over  30  years 15 

In  spite  of  the  large  number  of  casual  workers,  this  is  an  unusually- 
good  showing,  with  68  men  employed  over  20  years. 

It  is  evident  from  the  records  that  while  none  of  the  managers  can 
boast  of  anything  like  a  steady  force  of  workmen,  yet  some  of  them 
suffer  far  more  than  others  from  the  continual  shifting.  The  plants 
which  are  near  the  big  centers  of  industry  naturally  have  more  difficulty 
in  holding  their  men  than  do  those  which  are  situated  where  there  is 
not  so  much  demand  for  labor.  It  is  also  true,  however,  that  some 
of  these  plants  enjoy  fair  reputations,  while  others  are  so  notoriously 
dangerous  that  the  newly  arrived  Greek  or  Slav  or  Itahan  is  warned 
by  his  fellow  comitrymen  that  two  months  is  the  longest  time  he 
may  safely  work  there,  after  which  he  must  look  for  work  in  the  open 
air  to  get  rid  of  the  poison. 

In  talking  with  the  men  employed  in  two  neighboring  plants  it 
was  learned  that  while  one  plant  was  receiving  many  appHcations  for 
work  from  old  employees  returning  from  a  summer  on  the  farms  the 
other  was  actually  crippled  for  lack  of  men.  It  was  easy  to  see  why 
there  should  be  this  difference  between  the  two  plants,  for  one  was 
unusually  clean  and  under  the  management  of  an  intelligent  and 
careful  man,  while  the  other  was  one  of  the  two  most  dangerous  plants 
to  be  found  in  the  country. 

HOUSING. 

In  almost  every  lead  smelter  there  is  a  large  number  of  foreign- 
born  workmen,  who  have  no  families  with  them,  who  have  taken  up 
the  employment  as  a  temporary  thing,  and  who  are  eager  to  save 
as  much  as  possible  from  then*  wages  so  that  they  may  send  home 
for  their  families  or  return  to  them.  This  part  of  the  force  usually 
lives  close  around  the  smelter,  and  groups  of  men  of  the  same 
nationality  rent  a  few  rooms  which  they  use  to  the  utmost  limit  per- 
mitted by  the  three-shift  system.  These  rooms  are  sometimes  sur- 
prisingly clean  and  well  kept;  more  often  they  are  as  neglected  and 
dirty  as  would  be  expected.  Most  smelting  villages  are  very  unat- 
tractive, dreary,  and  squahd,  and  the  dreary  effect  is  added  to  by 
the  sulphurous  fumes  which  .escape  from  the  smokestacks  of  the 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  79 

works,  sometimes  oiily  at  intervals,  sometimes  almost  continuously. 
Yet  there  are  some  pleasant,  prosperous  looking  smelting  villages  of 
permanent  homes,  such  as  the  one  at  Herculaneum,  the  one  at  East 
Helena,  and  the  Slavic  village  at  Pueblo.  It  is  partly  a  question  of 
permanence  as  against  excessive  shifting,  for  a  migratory  popula- 
tion will  take  little  interest  in  a  place  of  temporary  sojourn  only, 
but  it  is  partly  also  a  question  of  nationality,  as  can  be  seen  in  the 
contrast  between  the  Italian-Mexican  village  in  Pueblo,  with  its  utter 
neglect  of  ordinary  cleanliness  in  the  surroundings  of  the  houses,  and 
the  clean  attractive  Slavic  village  across  the  river.  As  a  rule  the 
smeltmg  companies  do  not  rent  houses  to  their  workmen,  but  in  the 
three  instances  where  this  is  done  these  houses  compare  very  favor- 
ably with  workingmen's  houses  in  the  neighboring  towns,  and  the 
rent  is  moderate. 

COMPULSORY  REGISTRATION  OF  OCCUPATIONAL  PLUMBISM. 

The  effort  to  collect  trustworthy  data  as  to  lead  poisoning  in  the 
smelting  industry  showed  that  no  one  could  expect  very  much  help 
from  the  physicians  attached  to  some  of  the  plants.  In  the  first 
place  there  is  absolutely  no  uniformity  of  standard  among  these 
physicians  as  to  what  constitutes  lead  poisoning.  For  instance,  one 
man  reports  as  a  mild  case  of  plumbism  a  workman  with  anaemia 
and  a  lead  line.  This  is  entirely  in  accordance  with  British  and 
contmental  usage.  Another,  however,  designates  as  mild  plumbism 
a  severe  attack  of  coUc,  constipation,  nausea,  and  vomiting,  requiring 
medical  care  for  two  weeks.  Such  a  case  would  be  classed  as  moder- 
ately severe  in  British  reports,  but  the  American  physician  in  ques- 
tion does  not  consider  anything  milder  than  this  a  reportable  case  of 
lead  poisoning. 

The  Telation  between  physician  and  employer  sometimes  interferes 
with  the  effort  to  obtain  full  reports  of  lead  poisoning  from  a  plant. 
Fleck  complams  that  in  Germany  there  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of 
physicians  attached  to  lead  works  to  spare  their  employer's  feelings 
by  keeping  the  Hst  of  cases  of  lead  poisoning  low  and  recording  such 
diagnoses  as  "gastric  catarrh"  or  "chronic  constipation,"  or 
"ansemia"  instead. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  several  States  have  passed  laws  requiring 
physicians  to  report  to  some  central  oflBce  aU  cases  of  industrial 
plumbism  which  come  to  their  notice,  it  may  be  well  to  note  how  the 
Illinois  law  has  worked.  Illinois  requires  employers  in  estabhsh- 
ments  where  lead  salts  are  handled  to  provide  for  a  monthly  medical 
examination  of  all  employees  exposed  to  the  danger  of  lead  poisoning 
and  to  report  all  cases  of  lead  poisoning.  Missouri  has  recently  made 
the  same    requirement.     Similar   laws  in  other  States  require  *all 


80  BULLETIN    or    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS.  : 

physicians  to  report  such  cases,  but  do  not  call  for  regular  medical 
inspection. 

Physicians  and  sanitarians  have  always  said  that  the  only  way  in 
which  we  can  hope  to  gather  accurate  statistics  concerning  any 
occupational  disease  incident  to  the  lead  industry,  such  as  are  avail- 
able in  Great  Britain  and  continental  countries,  is  to  have  all  the 
men  who  are  exposed  to  lead  examined  more  or  less  frequently  and 
a  report  of  the  findings  sent  to  some  central  bureau.  It  was  largely 
for  this  reason  that  the  Illinois  law  was  framed  as  it  was,  but  the 
requirement  to  report  cases  unfortunately  applies  only  to  the  physi- 
cians attached  to  the  factories  which  come  under  the  law.  The 
experience  of  Illinois  after  two  years'  operation  of  this  law  seems 
to  show  that  if  we  are  ever  to  have  trustworthy  statistics  comparable 
with  those  of  other  countries  it  must  be  with  the  help  of  all  of  the 
physicians  in  the  State,  and,  in  addition  to  this,  there  must  be  some 
way  of  checking  up  reports  sent  in  by  the  company  doctors. 

The  records  of  five  smelting  and  refining  plants  in  Illinois  con- 
cerning which  information  is  available  in  the  chief  factory  inspector's 
office,  were  examined  in  the  search  for  reports  of  lead  poisoning. 
For  No.  1,  the  company  doctor  sent  in  every  month  during  the  last 
half  of  1912  and  the  first  three  months  of  1913  reports  of  the  physic^ 
examination  of  300  to  400  men  with  only  two  cases  of  plumbism. 
Yet  this  is  a  plant  with  ore  hearths  and  a  bag  house  in  addition  to  aU 
the  other  dangerous  parts  of  a  smelter.  Meantime,  during  1912, 
hospitals  in  near-by  cities  had  treated  46  cases  from  this  plant,  and 
physicians  had  treated  68  cases,  making  114  among  which  were  8 
encephalopathies,  but  none  of  these  reached  the  factory  inspector's 
office.  To  anyone  who  knows  the  smelting  industry,  whether  or  not 
he  has  studied  medicine,  it  is  incomprehensible  how  any  physician 
could  examine  165  to  175  ore-hearth  men,  month  after  month,  without 
finding  any  evidence  of  lead  poisoning. 

No.  2  is  a  contrast  to  this,  yet  curiously  enough  the  two  plants 
belong  to  the  same  company.  In  No.  2  the  doctor  reported  every 
case  of  profound  anaemia,  or  obstinate  constipation,  with  a  lead  line, 
as  plumbism,  a  carefulness  of  diagnosis  rare  even  among  private 
physicians.     This  plant  employs  100  to  125  men. 

In  No.  3  the  policy  is  very  like  that  followed  in  No.  1,  and  the 
physician  in  charge  of  350  to  450  men  sent  to  the  chief  factory  in- 
spector's office  reports  of  monthly  inspections  of  all  the  men,,  show-^- 
ing  only  five  cases  of  lead  poisoning  during  1912.^  This  also  is  a 
plant  with  ore  hearths.  Hospital  records  during  1912  yielded  66 
cases  from   this   plant,  and   physicians  reported  33  more,  maldng 

'  It  is  only  fair  to  state  that  vigorous  remonstrances  on  the  part  of  the  chief  factory  inspector  resulted 
in  a  sudden  change  in  January,  1913,  and  during  tho  next  three  months  29  cases  were  reported. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  •  81 

99,  while  47  additional  cases  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  investi- 
gators but  lacked  medical  confirmation.  Among  the  99  cases  were 
7  encephalopathies,  5  palsies,  and  2  deaths. 

No.  4  is  a  contrast  to  No.  3.  It  is  a  small  refinery  employing  only 
about  30  men  in  work  which  exposes  them  to  lead.  The  ph3^sician 
in  charge  sends  monthly  records  of  his  examinations  giving  a  list  of 
negative  cases,  of  all  those  who  show  a  lead  line,  and  of  those  with 
symptoms  of  chronic  plumbism. 

Of  No.  5  little  need  be  said.  It  is  a  refinery  emplojdng  150  men 
in  the  smelting  and  refining  of  dross  and  scrap  lead.  There  is  both 
dust  and  fume  to  an  unusual  extent  in  this  factory,  yet  the  physician 
in  charge  stated  that  he  had  had  no  case  of  lead  poisoning  since  he 
was  employed  more  than  a  year  ago.  Such  an  assertion  needs  no 
comment. 

The  working  of  the  Illinois  law  therefore  has  not  produced  the 
result  that  was  hoped  for.  It  does  not  provide  the  chief  factory 
inspector's  office  with  accurate  records  concerning  lead  poisoning  in 
the  smelting  industry,  whatever  may  be  true  of  other  lead  industries. 
The  requirement  to  report  cases  of  lead  poisoning  should  apply  to 
all  physicians,  not  alone  to  those  employed  by  the  companies;  and  it 
would  be  a  very  good  thing  if  the  law  should  provide  also  that  phy- 
sicians connected  with  the  State  factory  inspector's  office  should  at 
certain  intervals  go  through  the  plants,  examine  the  men,  and  check 
up  the  company  doctor's  reports.  Unless  something  of  this  sort  is 
done  we  shall  never  be  able  to  claim  that  the  statistics  of  occupational 
lead  poisoning  in  this  industry  are  trustworthy. 
31080°— BuU.  141—14 6 


APPENDIXES. 


APPENDIX   I.— THE    SOLUBILITY   OF   LEAD   SULPfflDE   ORES 
AND  OF  LEAD  SULPHIDE  IN  HUMAN  GASTRIC  JUICE. 

By  A.  WoELFEL  and  A.  J.  Carlson,  Department  of  Physiology,  University  of  Chicago. 

The  following  tests  of  the  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  ore  dust  in  human  gastric  juice 
were  made  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Alice  Hamilton,  special  investigator  of  occupational 
lead  poisoning  for  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  who  reported  to  us 
that  she  had  found  some  25  cases  of  lead  poisoning  among  men  employed  in  mines 
and  concentrating  mills  in  southeastern  Missouri.  The  mines  in  this  region  are 
supposed  to  yield  practically  pure  galena. 

The  literature  on  industrial  plumbism  usually  takes  for  granted  the  nonpoisonousness 
of  lead  sulphide  in  the  animal  body,  though  the  experimental  data  on  which  this  beUef 
is  founded  are  both  meager  and  conflicting.  Blum,^  who  is  the  most  widely  quoted 
authority  on  the  subject,  found  that  he  could  feed  animals  large  quantities  of  lead 
sulphide  without  apparently  producing  any  injurious  effects.  Leymann^  says 
that  the  sulphide  is  the  compound  found  in  most  of  the  ore  smelted  in  Germany,  and 
experience  shows  that  it  does  not  give  rise  to  lead  poisoning  in  workmen — experience 
which  is  confirmed  by  tests  on  animals.  If  there  is  any  danger  at  all  in  the  handling 
of  these  ores  it  is  so  slight  as  to  be  practically  negligible. 

Rambousek,^  at  the  International  Congress  of  Industrial  Hygiene  which  was 
held  at  JVIilan  in  1906,  quoted  the  work  of  Leymann  and  of  Blum  and  confirmed  their 
opinion  as  to  the  nonpoisonous  nature  of  lead  sulphide,  which  he  had  fed  to  animals 
in  large  doses  without  producing  any  ill  effects.  He  found  also  that  artificial  gastric 
juice  (0.1  per  cent  HCl  with  or  without  about  1  per  cent  of  peptone)  had  no  effect  what- 
ever on  lead  sulpliide.  Biondi  *  opposed  this  assertion  and  claimed  to  have  seen 
among  the  galena  miners  of  Sardinia  many  men  who  showed  the  usual  signs  of  lead 
absorjjtion.  "^Tiile  severe  coHc  or  neuritis  is  extremely  rare  among  these  men,  that  is 
explained  by  improved  hygienic  regulations  in  the  mines,  since  in  former  years  such 
phenomena  were  common  enough.  On  the  other  hand,  Rambousek  cited  the  sta- 
tistics of  the  galena  mines  of  Pribram  in  Bohemia,  where  among  10,000  miners  there 
was  not  1  case  of  lead  poisoning,  while  among  the  4,000  smelters  there  were  150  cases. 

Experimental  evidence  of  the  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  in  the  animal  body  seems 
to  have  been  furnished  first  by  Murgia,^  who,  after  feeding  dogs  and  rabbits  with 
blende  (zinc  sulphide)  which  contained  lead  sulphide  in  the  proportion  of  0.2  per 
cent,  found  traces  of  lead  in  both  Uver  and  intestines.  Recently  Brezina  and  Eugling  ^ 
undertook  to  study  chronic  plumbism  in  animals,  basing  their  conclusions  as  to  lead 
absorption  on  the  appearance  of  basophilic  gi'anules  in  the  red  blood  coi-puscles  of 
the  animals  in  question.     The  lead  compounds  were  introduced  into  subcutaneous 

1  Wiener  Meflizinische  Wochenschrift,  1904,  \ol.  54,  pp.  538-543:  tjber  das  Schicksal  des  Blei  im- 
Organismus,  F.  Blum. 

2  Leymann,  Bekiimpfung  der  Blelgefahr  in  der  Industrie,  Jena,  1908,  p.  4. 

3  Rambousek,  Transactions  1st  International  Congress  for  Industrial  Diseases,  Milan,  1906,  pp.  609-617; 
also  II  Ramazzini,  1907,  pp.  472,  473. 

*  Biondi,  Transactions  1st  International  Congress  for  Industrial  Diseases,  Milan,  1906,  pp.  293-308;  II 
Ramazzini,  474-479. 

'■>  Murgia,  Clinica  Moderna,  1906,  No.  27,  p.  3.6. 

'  Wiener  Arbeilen  aus  dem  Gcbiete  der  Sozialen  Medizin,  II  Ileft,  1912,  vol.  5,  pp.  29-34.  Unter- 
sucbungen  liber  experimentelle  clironische  Bleivergiftung.    E.  Brezina  und  M.  Eugling. 

82 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REPINING  LEAD. 


83 


pockets,  were  rubbed  into  the  shaved  skm  witli  lanoline  ointment,  and  finally  were 
mixed  with  the  food.  The  animals  selected  were  guinea  pigs.  The  characteristic  stip- 
pling of  the  cells  appeared  in  the  animals  ti-eated  with  lead  sulpliide  more  quickly 
and  in  larger  numbers  than  in  those  wliich  were  treated  with  lead  sulphate. 

The  general  plan  of  the  present  series  of  tests  is  the  same  as  that  followed  in  oirr 
preAious  tests  with  white  lead  (Carlson  and  Woelfel,  Bulletin  of  the  United  States 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  No.  120,  p.  22  et  seq.)  with  the  exception  of  feeding  experi- 
ments on  animals.  The  gastric  juice  was  obtained  from  Mr.  V.,  our  man  with  the 
permanent  gastric  fistula.  The  juice  was  collected  while  'Mx.  V.  was  chewing  palat- 
able food  when  hungry.  It  was  therefore  the  so-called  appetite  gastric  juice,  ranging 
in  fi-ee  acidity  from  0.43  to  0.48  per  cent.  The  collection  of  the  gastric  juice  was 
extended  over  several  days,  the  different  lots  being  mixed,  so  that  all  the  tests  on  the 
various  ores  were  made  with  the  same  stock  of  human  gastric  juice. 

Samples  of  lead  sulphide  ores  were  kindly  sent  us  by  the  Federal  Lead  Co. ,  of  Federal, 
ni.,  and  by  the  St.  Joseph  Lead  Co.,  of  Herculaneum,  Mo.  The  Federal  Lead  Co. 
sent  one  sample  fi'om  the  Federal  concentrator  at  Flat  River  and  one  sample  fi'om  the 
Desloge  concentrator;  both  samples  were  pulverized.  The  ore  sample  from  the  St. 
Joseph  Lead  Co.,  which  has  its  concentrator  at  Bonne  Terre,  was  not  pulverized  when 
received.  According  to  the  statements  kindly  furnished  us  by  the  two  companies 
these  ore  samples  assayed  the  following  percentages  of  lead : 

Federal  Lead  Co. :  Per  cent  of  lead. 

Sample  from  the  Federal  concentrator 73.  4 

Sample  from  the  Desloge  concentrator 70. 1 

St.  Joseph  Lead  Co. :  Sample  of  ore  from  Bonne  Terre 72. 0 

Parallel  tests  were  run  with  lead  sulphide  such  as  is  furnished  to  chemical  labora- 
tories. This  turned  out  not  to  be  absolutely  pure  lead  sulphide,  however,  as  the 
human  gastric  juice  brought  into  solution  a  trace  of  iron  besides  the  lead.  All  the  ore 
samples  contained  a  good  deal  of  iron,  some  of  which  was  dissolved  by  the  gastric 
juice  together  with  the  lead.  The  iron  was,  of  course,  not  included  in  figuring  the 
percentage  of  the  lead  sulphide  dissolved  by  the  gastric  juice. 

In  order  to  render  the  tests  directly  comparable  with  the  previous  tests  on  white 
lead  we  used  the  following  quantities:  Lead  sulphide  ore,  0.5  g.;  human  gastric  juice, 
25  cc;  distilled  water,  25  cc.  (38°  C.  (100°  F.)  for  10  hours). 

The  results  are  given  in  the  following  table: 

TESTS   AS    TO    SOLUBILITY   IN   HUMAN   GASTRIC   JUICE    OF   LEAD    SULPHIDE   ORE 
FURNISHED  BY  VARIOUS  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

[Solvent  used,  25  cc.  human  gastric  juice  and  25  cc.  distilled  water  at  38°  C.  (100°  F.)  for  10  hours.] 


Amount 

of  lead 

sulphide 

ore  used  for 

digestion. 


Lead 

contained 

in  ore. 


Lead 
sulphate 
derived 

from 
digestion. 


Lead 
contained 

in  lead 
sulphate. 


Average 
percentage 

of  lead 
dissolved. 


(1.. 
Federal  concentrator <2.. 

l3.. 

fl.. 
Desloge  concentrator <2.. 

la- 
st. Joseph  Lead  Co -^2!! 

l3.. 

fl.. 
Laboratory  lead  sulphide <2.. 

3.. 


0.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.5 
.6 
.5 


Gram. 

0.367 
.367 
.367 
.350 
.350 
.350 
.360 
.360 
.360 

1.433 
.433 
.433 


Gram. 
0. 0164 
.0156 
.0158 
.0072 
.0076 
.0066 
.0172 
.0178 
.0176 
.027 
.029 
.032 


Gram. 
0.0111 

.0106 
.0107 
.  0049 
.0051 
.0045 
.0117 
.0121 
.0120 
.  01S5 
.0197 
.0213 


2.94 
1.38 
3.32 
4.60 


1  Calculated  on  the  basis  of  the  material  being  pure  lead  sulphide,  contaitung  86.5  per  cent  lead. 


84  BULLETIN-    OF    THE   BUEEATJ    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

Pure  lead  sulphide  and  the  dust  of  lead  sulphide  ores  are  soluble  in  human  gastric 
juice  at  body  temperature.  Lead  sulj^hide  ore  dust  is  therefore  soluble  in  the  human 
stomach,  somewhat  less  so  than  basic  lead  sulphate,  very  much  less  so  than  basic  lead 
carbonate.  In  our  tests  with  the  sulphate  and  the  carbonate,  using  the  same  quantity 
of  gastric  juice,  the  solubility  of  the  lead  sulphate  amounted  to  9.5  per  cent;  that  of 
the  carbonate  to  46  per  cent.  The  table  shows  that  the  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  ore 
averages  about  2.5  per  cent,  while  the  solubility  of  laboratory  lead  sulphide  is  higher. 
We  can  not  account  for  the  distinctly  lower  solubility  of  the  ore  dust  from  the  Desloge 
concentrator. 

SUMMARY. 

1.  Lead  sulphide  is  soluble  in  human  gastric  juice, 

2.  The  solubility  of  lead  sulphide  is  less  than  that  of  basic  lead  sulphate  or  basic 
lead  carbonate,  but  the  sulphide  is  sufficiently  soluble  to  be  dangerous  to  the  health 
of  persons  engaged  in  mining  and  milling  lead  sulphide  ore,  if  the  mining  and  milling 
processes  involve  the  production  of  dust. 

3.  The  persons  engaged  in  mining  and  milling  lead  sulphide  ore  should  therefore 
be  protected  in  the  same  way  as  workers  in  other  dangerous  lead  industries. 


APPENDIX  11. 

Since  this  investigation  was  undertaken  the  following  regulations  have  been 
adopted  in  New  Jersey.  Practically  all  the  precautions  adopted  abroad  are  recom- 
mended, but  there  is  no  attempt  to  forbid  the  employment  of  workers  in  the  more 
dangerous  processes  for  more  than  a  strictly  limited  number  of  hours  per  day. 

REGULATIONS  FOR  THE  LEAD  AND  COPPER  INDUSTRIES. 

Drafted  by  Lillian  Eeskine,  special  investigator  for  the  New  Jersey  Department  of  Labor,  approved  by 
Ernst  F.  Euricii,  consulting  metallurgical  expert  for  the  State,  and  issued  in  the  form  of  a  circular 
letter  to  these  trades  by  Lewis  T.  Bryant,  commissioner  of  labor. 

The  lead  and  copper  industries  of  the  State  having  been  reported  upon  by  our 
consulting  metallurgical  expert  and  special  investigator,  I  desire  to  call  the  attention 
of  yoxu-  company  to  the  sanitary  regulations  governing  these  trades  which  are  approved 
by  the  department  of  labor. 

I.  In  view  of  the  dust  generated  in  the  handling,  sampling,  and  transportation  of 
ores,  the  department  requires  that  care  be  exercised  to  protect  the  workers  by  means 
of  a  thorough  sprinkling  of  such  ores  when  practicable ;  that  automatic  machine  sam- 
pling shall  be  the  standard  method;  that  the  air  of  the  sampling  mill  or  mills  shall  be 
kept  free  from  dust,  either  by  means  of  sprinkling  or  efficient  mechanical  exhaust 
ventilation;  that  if  no  means  can  be  devised  to  control  the  dust  generated  in  empty- 
ing sacks  containing  lead  ores,  the  workers  engaged  in  such  operation  shall  be  furnished 
and  reqmred  to  wear  an  approved  type  of  respirator;  that  no  sacks  in  which  lead  or 
other  ores  have  been  shipped  shall  be  cleaned  by  hand,  but  that  all  such  sacks  shall 
be  cleaned  by  sanitary  mechanical  methods;  and  that  all  ores  containing  lead  stored 
in  bins  shall  be  dampened  before  transportation. 

II.  As  the  roasting  of  lead  ores,  whether  in  furnaces  or  in  sintering  machines,  or  by 
any  other  method,  may  expose  the  workers  to  injurious  fumes  or  gases,  the  department 
requires  that  when  such  danger  exists,  the  points  at  which  such  fumes  or  gases  enter 
the  workrooms  shall  be  i^roperly  hooded,  and  the  hoods  connected  mth  efficient 
mechanical  exhaust  ventilation. 

III.  The  making  up  of  charges  for  the  lead-blasting  furnaces  being  recognized  as 
offering  special  risk  to  the  health  of  workers  engaged  therein,  the  department  requires 
the  thorough  sprinkling  of  all  materials  handled  in  such  charges,  to  the  end  that  they 
may  be  damp  when  dumped  upon  the  feed  floor. 

IV.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  in  the  event  of  the  breakdown  or  repair  of  any  mechan- 
ical exhaust  system  for  the  control  of  fumes  generated  in  the  various  tapping  operations 
of  the  blast  furnaces  treating  lead  ores  or  leady  copper  ores  the  workers  on  the  feed 
floor  will  be  exposed  to  risk  if  the  floor  is  not  tight  the  department  requires  that  such 
feed  floors  shall  be  impervious  to  fume. 

V.  As  dangerous  fumes  are  generated  in  the  tapping  operations  of  lead-blast  furnaces, 
the  department  requires  the  installation  of  hoods  with  efficient  mechanical  exhaust 
ventilation  at  all  points  where,  in  the  tapping  operations,  fumes  are  liberated. 

VI.  To  prevent  fumes  and  gases  issuing  from  the  charging  openings  of  lead  and 
copper  blast  furnaces,  the  department  requires  flues  of  a  sufficient  size,  with  an 
efficient  natural  or  mechanical  draft,  and  suitable  provision  for  any  accidental  blocking 
which  may  occur,  e.  g.,  providing  each  furnace  with  a  separate  stack  communicating 
directly  with  the  air  and  closed  with  a  damper. 

VII.  (a)  In  view  of  the  unsanitary  features  of  hand  shaking  of  bags  in  the  bag 
house  or  houses  designed  for  collecting  flue  dust  in  lead  and  copper  processes,  the 

85 


86  BULLETIN-    OF   THE   BUREAU    OP    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

department  requires  the  installation  of  such  mechanical  method  for  shaking  as  shall 
prevent  the  exposure  of  the  workers  to  dusts  generated  in  shaking  the  bags. 

(6)  The  department  further  requires  the  protection  of  such  workers  as  are  exposed 
to  dust  in  cleaning  flues,  bag  houses,  and  bag-house  cellars  by  means  of  the  use  of  special 
clothing  and  approved  respirators  to  be  furnished  them  by  the  employer  for  such 
purpose;  and  urges  the  enforcement  by  the  employer  of  rules  calling  for  special  sani- 
tary precautions  on  the  part  of  the  workers  employed. 

(c)  As  the  cleaning  of  flues,  bag  house,  and  bag-house  cellars  is  universally  recog- 
nized as  an  employment  hazardous  to  health,  the  department  calls  the  attention  of 
employers  to  the  foreign  practice  of  shortening  the  hours  of  such  workers  as  are  directly 
exposed  to  flue  dust  in  cleaning  processes. 

VIII.  If  in  any  of  the  various  operations  connected  with  lead  refining,  lead  fumea 
habitually,  or  from  time  to  time,  pass  into  the  air  of  the  workrooms,  they  shall  be 
removed  by  means  of  efiicient  mechanical  exhaust  ventilation. 

This  applies  especially  to  retort  furnaces,  cupelliQg  furnaces,  antimony  slag  fur- 
naces and  lead  reverberatory  furnaces. 

IX.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  some  copper  matte  contains  lead,  arsenic,  and  antimony, 
and  that  in  converting  copper  matte  there  is  always  a  copious  evolution  of  sulphm-ous 
acid  gas,  the  department  requires  the  efiicient  hooding  of  all  converters,  and  that  such 
hoods  shall  effectively  remove  the  fumes  and  gases  generated,  whatever  may  be  the 
position  of  the  converter. 

X.  (a)  To  protect  the  health  of  the  workers,  the  department  requires  that  the  elec- 
trolytic tanks  be  placed  in  spacious,  well- ventilated  buildings,  and,  where  necessary, 
that  fresh  air  shall  be  continually  supplied  by  means  of  fans. 

(6)  The  department  requires  that  all  liberating  tanks  shall  be  so  protected  that  the 
o-as  bubbles  rising  to  the  sm-f  ace  shall  not  spray  the  acid  solution  into  the  air  of  the  tank 
rooms. 

(c)  The  department  requires  that  the  purifying  of  the  foul  electrolytic  solutions, 
and  the  precipitation  of  copper  from  the  solutions  by  means  of  iron,  shall  either  be 
carried  on  in  tanks  placed  under  a  hood  or  hoods  connected  with  effective  mechanical 
exhaust  ventilation,  or  that  such  tanks  shall  be  placed  in  the  open  air  in  such  position 
that  the  gases  given  off  will  be  quickly  diffused  and  not  be  a  source  of  harm. 

XL  The  department  suggests  the  adoption  of  air  rabbling  of  the  copper  refining 
furnaces,  as  hand  rabbling  exposes  the  worker  to  excessive  heat  and  glare. 

XII.  The  department  urges  the  elimination  of  hand  charging  of  the  anode  and 
cathode  furnaces,  to  the  end  that  the  prevailing  mechanical  injuries  to  the  workers 
may  be  lessened. 

XIII.  In  order  that  the  an-  of  the  workrooms  in  which  furnace  processes  are  carried 
on  may  be  kept  free  from  dust,  the  department  requires  that  skimmings,  drosses, 
matte,  and  slag  from  furnaces  shall  not  be  allowed  to  accumulate  on  the  floors  of  the 
worki-ooms;  that  all  such  by-products  as  produce  dust  shall  be  thoroughly  sprinkled 
before  transportation;  and  that  no  dry  sweepings  but  only  wet  cleaning  shall  be  per- 
mitted in  the  departments  where  lead  is  treated. 

XIV.  Because  of  the  production  of  lead  oxides,  and  the  possible  evolution  of  lead 
fumea  in  the  melting  of  pig  lead  for  trade  purposes,  or  in  the  manufacture  of  lead 
alloys  not  containing  arsenic,  the  department  requires  the  protection  of  all  such  lead 
melting  and  alloy  kettles  by  means  of  hoods  connected  with  an  efiicient  method  of 
ventilation. 

XV.  In  view  of  the  dangerous  character  of  the  fumea  liberated  in  the  making  of 
alloya  of  lead  and  arsenic,  and  of  the  lead  oxides  and  fumes  produced  in  the  melting 
of  scrap  lead,  the  department  requires  the  protection  of  all  such  lead  and  arsenic  alloy 
kettles  and  scrap  load  melting  kettles  by  means  of  hoods  connected  with  efl[icient 
mechanical  exhaust  ventilation. 


LEAD  POISOXIXG  IN  SMELTIXG  AXD  EEFIXIXG  LEAD,  87 

XVI.  In  view  of  the  established  fact  that  cleanliness  on  the  part  of  the  workers  is 
an  important  factor  in  lessening  lead  poisoning  in  all  j^rocesses  in  which  that  metal  is 
handled,  and  that  copper  sulphate,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  gets  on  the  clothes  and 
on  the  persona  of  workers  in  the  electrolytic  refining  of  copper,  and  that  all  employees 
in  furnace  processes  and  the  handling  of  molten  metals  are  exposed  to  excessive  heat 
at  certain  times,  the  department  requires  the  furnishing  of  sanitary  lockers,  dressing 
room  or  rooms,  and  convenient  and  adequate  washing  facilities,  with  shower  baths  for 
all  lead  and  copper  employees,  and  urges  upon  the  management  the  necessity  for  a 
strict  enforcement  of  the  use  of  these  washing  facilities  by  the  workers. 

XVII.  Since  it  is  recognized  that  eating  in  workrooms  contaminated  by  lead  dust 
or  fumes  is  a  menace  to  the  health  of  the  worker,  and  that  the  general  eating  in  rooms 
where  metallurgical  processes  are  carried  on  may,  in  many  cases,  be  very  questionable 
from  a  sanitary  point  of  ^dew,  the  department  requires  the  installation  of  a  sanitary 
and  convenient  lunch  room,  or  rooms  for  the  use  of  all  lead  and  copper  employees, 
and  urges  upon  the  management  the  necessity  for  a  strict  enforcement  of  their  use. 

The  efficient  mechanical  exhaust  ventilation  required  is  fixed  by  the  State's  stand- 
ard of  1912. 

Sufiicient  suction  head  shall  be  maintained  in  each  branch  pipe  within  15  inches 
of  the  hoods  to  raise  2  inches  of  water  column  in  a  U-shaped  tube.  Pressui-e  to  be 
taken  by  pressing  tube  attachment  over  small  opening  through  pipe,  commonly  called 
static  method.     Tests  to  be  made  with  aU  branches  open  and  unobstructed. 


APPENDIX  ni.-GERMAN  REGULATIONS  FOR  LEAD-SMELTING 
WORKS  (JUNE  16,  1905).^ 

GENERAL  REGULATIONS. 

1.  Worki-ooms  in  which  lead  ores  are  roasted,  sintered,  or  smelted,  pig  lead  pro- 
duced and  submitted  to  fui'ther  treatment,  distillation  of  rich  lead  (bullion  cupella- 
tion)  litharge,  red  lead,  or  other  oxides  of  lead  prepared,  ground,  or  sieved,  stored,  or 
packed,  or  zinc  skimmings  distilled  shall  be  roomy,  high,  and  so  arranged  that  a 
sufficient  constant  exchange  of  air  takes  place.  They  shall  be  provided  with  a  level 
and  solid  floor  to  allow  of  easy  removal  of  dust  by  a  moist  method. 

The  walls  shall  be  smooth,  so  as  to  prevent  collection  of  dust;  they  shall  be  either 
washed  down  or  limewashed  at  least  once  a  year. 

Provided,  That  this  shall  not  apply  in  the  case  of  calcining  sheds  with  wooden  walls. 

2.  An  abundant  supply  of  good  drinking  water,  protected  against  contamination 
from  dust,  shall  be  provided  for  the  workers  on  the  furnaces  and  smelting  pots,  and 
in  such  close  proximity  to  them  that  they  can  obtain  it  at  any  time  without  having 
to  go  into  the  open  air. 

Arrangements  for  sprinkling  the  floors  shall  be  provided  near  the  furnaces.  The 
floors  of  the  rooms  mentioned  in  paragraph  1  shall  be  wet  cleansed  at  least  once  daQy. 

3.  Prepared  (i.  e.,  concentrated)  lead  ores  and  leady  smelting  products,  unless 
moist,  shall  not  be  crushed  except  in  an  apparatus  so  arranged  as  to  prevent  as  far 
as  possible  penetration  of  dust  into  workrooms. 

Provided,  That  this  shall  not  apply  to  calcined  material  from  converters. 
Sacks  in  wlaich  lead  ores  and  materials  containing  lead  have  been  packed  shall 
not  be  freed  from  dust  and  cleaned  except  in  a  dust-proof  apparatus  or  by  washing, 

4.  Materials  containing  lead  for  charging  the  blast  furnaces,  if  they  are  oxides  and 
form  dust,  shall  be  damped  before  they  are  mixed  with  other  materials,  stocked  on 
the  feeding  floor,  or  charged  into  the  blast  furnaces. 

Provided,  That  this  shall  not  apply  in  the  case  of  calcined  material  from  converters. 

5.  Dust,  gases,  and  lead  fumes  escaping  from  furnaces  and  converters,  tapping 
spouts,  tapping  pots,  drain  sump,  slag  pots,  slag  cars,  or  slag  channels  and  from 
glowing  residues  taken  from  the  furnaces  shall  be  caught  as  near  as  possible  to  the 
point  of  origin  and  removed  harmlessly. 

Dust-collecting  chambers,  flues,  as  well  as  furnaces  which  have  been  "blown 
down"  shall  not  be  entered  by  workmen  unless  sufficiently  cooled  and  ventilated. 

SPECIAL  REGULATIONS  FOR  SUCH  PARTS  OF  A  FACTORY   WHERE  LEAD  COLORS  ARE 

PREPARED. 

6.  In  grinding,  sieving,  and  packing  dry  leady  materials,  in  charging,  and  empty- 
ing litharge  and  red-lead  furnaces,  in  collecting  the  red  lead  and  similar  operations 
in  which  leady  dust  is  developed,  exhaust  arrangements  shall  be  provided  for  pre- 
venting the  entrance  of  dust  into  the  workrooms. 

7.  Apparatus  producing  leady  dust,  if  their  construction  and  manner  of  use  does 
not  effectually  pi-event  evolution  of  dust,  shall  have  all  cracks  protected  by  thick 
layers  of  felt  or  woolen  material,  or  by  similar  means,  so  as  to  prevent  the  entrance 
of  dust  into  the  workrooms. 

Apparatus  of  this  character  shall  be  provided  with  arrangements  for  preventing 
compression  of  air  in  them.  They  shall  only  be  opened  when  the  dust  in  them  shall 
have  completely  settled  and  they  are  absolutely  cool. 

'  From  Great  Britain,  Home  Department.  Lead  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious 
Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials  Containing  Lead  and  in  the  Manufacture  of  Red  and  Orange  Lead 
and  Flaked  Litharge.  By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories.  London,  1910. 
pp.  24-27. 

88 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  89 

SPECIAL  ARRANGEMENTS  IN  FORCE  FOR  THE  DISTILLATION  OF  ZINC  SKIMMINGS. 

8.  Proposed  new  furnaces  for  the  distillation  of  zincsMmroings  (for  which,  according 
to  paragi-aphs  10  and  25  of  the  industrial  code,  a  special  permission  is  required)  shall 
be  so  arranged  that  (1)  there  shall  be  at  least  a  clear  space  of  10  feet  in  front  of  the 
charging  opening;  (2)  any  passages  under  the  distillation  rooms  shall  be  roomy,  at 
least  llj  feet  high  in  the  center,  light,  and  airy. 

9.  Dust,  gases,  and  fumes  arising  from  the  zinc  skimmings  distillation  furnaces 
shall  be  collected  as  near  as  possible  to  the  point  of  origin  and  carried  outside  the 
smelting  room. 

The  entrance  of  gases  from  the  fires  into  the  smelting  room  shall  be  prevented  aa 
far  as  possible  by  suitable  arrangements  for  drawing  them  off. 

10.  Sieving  and  packing  of  by-products  obtained  in  the  distillation  of  zinc  skim- 
mings (poussiere,  flue  dust)  shall  not  be  done  except  in  a  special  room  separated  from 
the  other  workrooms  and  complying  with  the  requii'ements  of  regulation  1. 

Sieving  shall  only  be  done  in  an  apparatus  so  constructed  that  dust  shall  not  escape. 

EMPLOYMENT  OF  WORKERS. 

11.  Women  and  young  persons  shall  not  be  employed  or  permitted  in  rooms  men- 
tioned in  regulation  1,  in  flue-dust  chambers,  or  dust  flues,  or  in  the  removal  of  flue 
dust. 

12.  No  person  shall  be  newly  employed  in  rooms  mentioned  in  regulation  1,  in  flue- 
dust  chambers,  or  dust  flues,  or  in  the  transport  of  flue  dust,  without  a  certificate  of 
fitness  from  the  surgeon  appointed  by  the  higher  authorities. 

These  certificates  shall  be  collected  and  shown  to  the  factory  inspector  and  appointed 
surgeon  on  request. 

13.  No  person  shall  be  employed  in  charging  blast  furnaces,  apart  from  mere  laboring 
work  on  the  floors,  for  more  than  eight  hours  daily.  The  same  shall  apply  in  the  case 
of  workmen  employed  in  the  inside  of  furnaces  when  cool,  or  in  emptying  flue-dust 
chambers,  or  dust  flues  which  contain  wet  flue  dust. 

No  person  shall  be  employed  in  cleaning  out,  from  inside,  flue-dust  chambers, 
or  dust  flues  containing  dry  flue  dust  for  more  than  four  hours  daily;  and  including 
emptying  and  work  of  transport  of  this  kind  altogether  no  longer  than  eight  hours 
daily. 

Other  workers  in  rooms  specified  in  regulation  1  shall  not  work  more  than  10  hours 
in  24,  exclusive  of  mealtimes. 

Exception  to  this  is  allowed  in  the  case  of  those  workers  who  are  employed  for 
the  purpose  of  a  weekly  change  of  shift,  and  for  whom  exception  as  to  Sunday  employ- 
ment is  permitted  by  imperial  decree. 

CLOTHING,  OVERALLS,  LAVATORY  ACCOMMODATIONS,  ETC. 

14.  The  occupier  shall  provide  for  all  persons  employed  in  cleaning  out  flue-dust 
chambers,  dust  flues,  repairing  of  cooled  furnaces,  grinding,  sieving,  and  packing  of 
litharge,  red  lead,  or  other  lead  colors,  complete  suits  of  working  clothes,  including 
caps  and  respirators. 

15.  Work  with  lead  salts  in  solution  shall  not  be  done  except  by  workers  who  either 
grease  their  hands  or  are  provided  with  impermeable  gloves. 

16.  The  suits  of  clothes,  or  overalls,  provided  in  regulations  14  and  15,  respirators 
and  gloves,  shall  be  provided  in  sufiicient  amount  and  in  proper  condition.  The 
occupier  shall  see  that  they  are  always  suitable  for  their  purpose,  and  are  not  worn 
except  by  those  workers  for  whom  they  are  intended;  and  that  they,  at  stated  inter- 
vals (the  overalls  at  least  once  a  week,  the  respirators  and  gloves  prior  <to  use),  are 
cleaned,  and  during  the  time  that  they  are  not  in  use  are  kept  in  a  place  specially 
reserved  for  each  article. 


90  BULLETIl^    OF    THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

17.  A  lavatory  and  cloakroom  shall  be  provided  for  the  use  of  the  workmen  in  a 
part  of  the  building  free  from  dust.  Separate  from  it  there  shall  be  a  dining  room. 
These  rooms  must  be  kept  free  from  dust  and  be  warmed  during  the  winter. 

In  a  suitable  place  provision  shall  be  made  for  warming  the  workers'  food. 

"Water,  soap,  and  towels,  and  arrangements  for  keeping  separate  the  overalls  from 
other  clothing  taken  off  before  the  commencement  of  work  shall  be  provided  in 
sufficient  amount  in  the  lavatory  and  cloakroom. 

The  occupier  shall  afford  opportunity  for  persons  engaged  in  cleaning  out  flue-dust 
chambers,  dust  flues,  and  the  cooled  furnaces,  to  take  a  bath  daily  after  the  end  of 
the  work,  and  for  those  handling  oxides  of  lead,  at  least  once  a  week,  during  working 
hours,  inside  the  works.     The  bathroom  shall  be  warmed  during  the  winter. 

18.  The  occupier  shall  place  the  supervision  of  the  health  of  the  workers  in  the 
hands  of  a  surgeon,  appointed  by  the  higher  authorities  for  this  purpose,  whose  name 
shall  be  sent  to  the  inspector  of  factories.  The  surgeon  shall  examine  the  workers 
at  least  once  a  month  in  the  factory,  with  a  view  to  the  detection  of  symptoms  of 
lead  poisoning. 

The  occupier  shall  not  employ  persons  suspected  by  the  surgeon  of  having  contracted 
lead  poisoning  in  the  processes  mentioned  in  regulation  1  or  in  cleaning  out  flue- 
dust  chambers,  dust  flues,  cr  furnaces  when  cold,  or  transport  of  the  flue  dust,  until 
they  are  quite  well.  Those  who  appear  peculiarly  susceptible  shall  be  permanently 
suspended  from  working  in  these  processes. 

19.  The  health  register  shall  be  shown  to  the  factory  inspector  and  appointed  sur- 
geon on  demand.  (Similar  to  regulation  15  of  spelter  regulations  (Appendix  I) 
with  an  addition.) 

20.  The  occupier  shall  require  the  workers  to  subscribe  to  the  following  conditions: 

(1)  Food  must  not  be  taken  into  the  workrooms.  Meals  may  only  be  taken  outside 
the  workrooms. 

(2)  Workmen  must  only  enter  the  meal  room  to  take  their  meals  or  leave  the  factory, 
after  they  have  taken  off  then-  overalls  and  carefully  washed  their  faces  and  hands. 

(3)  Workmen  must  use  the  overalls,  respirators,  and  gloves  in  those  workrooms  and 
for  the  particular  processes  for  which  they  are  given  them. 

(4)  Cigar  and  cigarette  smoking  during  work  is  forbidden. 

(5)  A  bath  in  the  factory  must  be  taken  every  day  at  the  close  of  their  work  by  those 
engaged  in  the  emptying  and  cleaning  of  flue  dust  chambers,  flues,  and  furnaces  when 
cold,  and  by  those  employed  on  oxides  of  lead  once  a  week:  Provided,  That  this  shall 
not  apply  in  the  case  of  workmen  exempted  by  the  appointed  surgeon. 

Workers  contravening  these  orders  will  be  liable  to  dismissal  without  further  notice. 

21.  In  eA'eiy  workroom,  as  well  as  in  the  cloakroom  and  meal  room,  there  shall  be 
posted  up  by  the  occupier,  in  a  conspicuous  place  and  in  clear  characters,  a  notice  of 
these  regulations. 

The  occupier  is  responsible  for  seeing  that  the  requirement  of  regulation  20  (1)  is 
obeyed.  He  shall  make  a  manager  or  foreman  responsil)le  for  the  precise  carrying 
out  of  regulation  20  (1),  (2),  and  (5).  The  person  thus  made  responsible  shall  see  to 
the  carrying  out  of  the  regulations  and  for  the  exercise  of  necessary  care  as  prescribed 
in  paragraph  151  of  the  factory  act. 

22.  No  work  in  a  lead-smelting  works  shall  be  commenced  until  notice  of  its  erec- 
tion has  been  sent  to  the  factory  insi^ector.  After  receipt  of  the  notice  he  shall  per- 
sonally visit  to  see  Avhether  the  arrangements  are  in  accordance  with  the  regulations. 

23.  These  regulations  came  into  force  on  January  1,  1906. 
"VMaere  structural  alterations  are  necessary  for  the  carrying  out  of  regulations  1,  5  (1), 

6,  9,  10,  and  17  the  higher  authorities  may  allow  an  extension  of  time  to  a  date  not 
later  than  January  1,  1908. 

If  it  seems  necessary  on  strong  grounds  of  public  interest,  the  council  (Bundesrath) 
may  extend  the  time  in  particular  works  until  January  1,  1913,  and  until  then  allow 
exceptions  from  the  regulations  as  regards  regulation  13  (1)  and  (2). 


APPENDIX  IV.— FRENCH   REGULATIONS   RELATING  TO   PRE- 
CAUTIONS AGAINST  INDUSTRIAL  LEAD   POISONING. 

DECREE   OP   THE   PRESIDENT    OF   THE    FRENCH  REPUBLIC  (APRIL  23,  1908)  RELATING 
TO  CERTAIN  INDUSTRIES  IN  WHICH  LfiAD  IS  USED. 

[Translated  from  Journal  Ofllciel  de  la  Eepublique  FrancaLse,  29  Avril,  190S.] 

1.  Intlielead  industries  hereinafter  mentioned,  viy.,  smelting,  cupellation  of  argen- 
tiferous lead,  manufacture  of  accumulators,  glass  making,  manufacture  and  use  of 
lead  enamels,  manufacture  of  pottery,  decoration  of  porcelain  or  faience,  ceramic 
chromolithography,  manufacture  of  lead  alloys,  oxides,  salts,  and  colors,  employers, 
directors,  or  managers  are  required,  apart  from  the  general  measures  prescribed  by 
the  decree  of  November  29, 1904,  to  take  special  measures  for  protection  and  health  as 
set  forth  in  the  following  sections: 

2.  Lead  melting  pots  shall  be  erected  in  an  airy  place  separated  from  the  other 
workrooms.  Hoods  or  other  means  for  the  effectual  removal  of  fumes  shall  be  pro- 
vided— 

(a)  Over  the  openings  for  the  run  of  lead  and  slag  in  lead  smelting; 
(6)  Before  the  furnace  doors  in  the  manufacture  of  lead  oxides;  and 
(c)  Above  the  pots  for  melting  lead  and  its  alloys  in  the  other  industries  enumerated 
in  section  1. 

3.  All  "work  with  oxides  and  other  compounds  of  lead  capable  of  producing  dust 
shall  be  done  as  far  as  possible  when  in  a  damp  condition. 

When  this  work  can  not  be  done  in  the  presence  of  water  or  other  liquid,  it  shall 
be  carried  out  by  mechanical  means  in  covered  air-tight  apparatus. 

If  it  is  impossible  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  either  of  the  first  two  paragraphs 
of  this  section,  the  work  shall  be  done  under  a  strong  draft  so  arranged  that  the 
harmful  products  may  be  intercepted  by  apparatus  suitably  placed. 

rinally,  if  none  of  these  systems  is  possible  the  workmen  shall  be  supplied  with 
respirators. 

4.  Oxides  and  other  compounds  of  lead,  whether  dry  or  damp,  in  suspension  or 
solution,  shall  not  be  handled  with  the  bare  hand.  The  employer  shall  at  his  own 
expense  provide  the  workers  in  these  operations  with  eitlier  gloves  made  of  impervious 
material,  such  as  India  rubber,  or  suitable  appliances,  and  shall  cause  them  to  be  kept 
in  good  repair  and  frequently  cleaned. 

5.  Tables  on  which  these  products  are  handled  shall  be  covered  with  some  imper- 
vious material,  kept  in  a  perfectly  water-tight  condition. 

The  same  requirement  applies  to  the  floors  of  the  workrooms,  which  shall  also  be 
kept  damp. 

The  floor  shall  be  slightly  sloped  toward  a  water-tight  receptacle  for  collecting  the 
lead  substances  which  are  washed  down. 

The  work  shall  be  so  arranged  that  there  shall  be  no  si^lashing.  The  tables,  floors, 
and  walls  shall  be  washed  at  least  once  a  week. 

6.  Without  prejudice  to  the  requirements  of  section  3,  the  grinding  and  mixing  of 
lead  products,  and  the  use  of  them  in  dusting  shall  be  effected  in  s^secial  places  with 
active  ventUation. 

If  the  materials  can  not  be  damped,  the  workers  shall  be  provided  with  respirators. 

1  From  Great  Britain  Home  Department.  I-ead  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious 
Processes  in  the  Smelling  of  Materials  Containing  Lead  and  in  the  Manufacture  of  Rod  and  Orange  Lead  and 
Flaked  Litharge.    By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories.    London,  1910,  pp.  27-29. 

91 


92  BULLETIN    OF    THE   BUREAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

7.  Pottery  shall  not  be  dipped  with  bare  bands  in  solutions  containing  litharge,  red 
lead,  galena,  or  white  lead  in  suspension. 

8.  No  food  or  drink  shall  be  brought  into  the  works. 

9.  Employers  shall,  at  their  own  expense,  provide  and  maintain  for  the  use  of  the 
workers,  overalls  or  clothing  for  use  during  work  only,  in  addition  to  gloves  and 
respirators. 

10.  In  a  part  of  the  building  sepai'ated  from  the  workrooms,  there  shall  be  provided 
for  the  use  of  the  workers  exposed  to  lead  dust  or  fumes,  a  cloakroom  and  lavatory  kept 
in  good  order,  provided  with  basins  or  taps  in  sufficient  number,  a  plentiful  supply 
of  water,  soap,  and  a  towel  for  each  worker  replaced  at  least  once  a  week. 

The  cloakrooms  shall  be  provided  with  cupboards  or  drawers  with  locks  or  padlocks, 
the  ordinary  clothing  being  kept  apart  from  the  working  clothes. 

11.  A  warm  bath  or  shower  bath  shall  be  provided  each  week  for  the  workers  exposed 
to  lead  dust  or  fumes. 

A  warm  bath  or  shower  bath  shall  be  provided  every  day  after  work  for  each  worker 
employed,  either  in  emptying  or  cleaning  the  condensing  chambers  and  flues,  or  in 
repairing  furnaces  in  lead  works,  or  in  carrying  lead  coiTosions  from  the  beds  in  white- 
lead  factories,  or  in  packing  red  lead,  or  in  grinding  lead  enamels  and  in  dry  dusting. 

12.  Employers  are  required  to  exhibit,  in  a  conspicuous  position  in  the  works, 
regulations  imposing  on  the  workers  the  following  obligations: 

To  use  the  appliances,  gloves,  respirators,  and  working  clothes  placed  at  their 
disposal. 
Not  to  bring  into  the  works  either  food  or  drink. 
To  pay  great  care,  before  each  meal,  to  the  cleanliness  of  the  mouth,  nose,  and  hands. 
To  take  the  baths  weekly ^or  daily  as  provided  in  section  11. 

13.  The  minister  of  labor  may,  by  order  made  with  the  advice  of  the  consultative 
committee  for  arts  and  manufactures,  exempt  an  establishment  for  a  specified  periodji 
from  all  or  part  of  the  requirements  of  regulations  2  (a),  2  (6),  2  (c),  5  (2),  and  6  (1)  in 
any  case  where  it  is  found  that  observance  of  these  requirements  is  practically  impos- 
sible, and  that  the  health  and  safety  of  the  workers  are  assured  by  conditions  at  least 
equivalent  to  those  prescribed  in  the  present  order. 

14.  Subject  to  additional  postponements  which  may  be  granted  by  the  minister 
in  pm-suance  of  section  6  of  the  act  of  June  12,  1893  (as  amended  by  that  of  July  11, 
1903),  the  delay  required  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  alterations  necessitated  by  the 
present  decree  is  limited  to  one  year  from  the  date  of  its  publication. 

15.  The  ministry  of  labor  is  charged  with  the  administration  of  this  decree. 

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR  SMELTING   MATERIALS  CONTAINING  LEAD,  BY  M.  BOULIN.i 
INSPECTEUR  DIVISIONNAIRE  DU  TRAVAIL,  LILLE. 

1.  Ore- moved  from  the  store  heap  to  the  furnaces  shall  be  moistened  to  prevent 
the  formation  of  dust  while  it  is  being  moved  and  when  the  furnaces  are  being  charged. 

2.  If  it  is  proved  that  at  any  time  the  draft  of  the  furnace  is  not  adequate,  or  if 
air  taken  from  close  to  one  of  the  working  doors  shows  the  presence  of  lead  in  form  of 
vapor,  or  of  dust,  a  competent  authority  shall  have  the  right  to  call  for  erection  of 
hoods  or  for  some  other  form  of  efficient  ventilation. 

3.  Calcining  furnaces  shall  be  discharged  in  such  manner  that  no  dust  or  vapor  can 
gain  access  to  the  workroom. 

4.  Breaking  up  of  ore,  whether  slagged  or  not,  shall  be  preceded  by  damping,  or  be 
carried  on  in  a  closed  apparatus,  or  under  conditions  which  do  not  expose  the  men  to 
inhalation  of  dust. 

5.  The  charges  for  the  furnaces  shall  be  prepared  in  a  separate  large  airy  place. 
The  mixing  of  the  materials  composing  these  charges  shall  be  carried  out  so  that  the 

1  Bulletin  de  I'lnspection  du  Travail,  Paris,  190G. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  EEFINING  LEAD,  93 

atmosphere  breathed  by  the  workmen  shall  not  contain  dust.     The  workmen  shall, 
moreover,  have  at  their  disposal  respirators  which  shall  be  kept  scrupulously  clean. 

6.  The  charges  shall  be  brought  ready  prepared  to  the  mouth  of  the  blast  furnaces, 
and  the  charging  of  the  furnaces  shall  be  done  as  automatically  as  possible. 

7.  The  receptacles  for  the  slag  from  the  blast  furnaces  shall  be  so  aiTanged  that  the 
fumes  which  are  given  off  during  the  run  shall  be  immediately  carried  outside  the 
workroom. 

8.  In  works  where  they  still  use  the  furnace  known  as  "bas-foyer  Americain,"  the 
American  low  hearth,  the  draft  caused  by  the  outside  hood  shall  be  so  active  that 
no  fume  can  escape  into  the  workroom.  The  competent  authority  shall  have  the  right 
to  compel  this  draft  to  be  produced  by  means  of  a  mechanical  fan. 

9.  WTien  the  lead  is  run,  whether  this  running  takes  place  at  the  reverberatory  fur- 
nace or  elsewhere,  and  dui'ing  the  whole  time  that  the  metal  remains  liquid,  there 
shall  be  over  the  vessel  containing  the  lead  a  hood  with  a  good  draft. 

10.  During  cupelling,  fumea  shall  not  escape  by  the  furnace  door.  If  they  do 
escape  they  shall  be  completely  caught  up  and  drawn  away  by  a  ventilating  fan. 

11.  Repairs  in  the  nature  of  pulling  down  or  rebuilding  furnaces  shall  only  take 
place  after  complete  cooling,  and  after  damping  to  prevent  the  formation  of  dust. 

12.  The  removal  of  dross,  of  litharge,  and  of  the  different  oxides  drawn  out  of  the 
furnaces,  crucibles,  or  melting  pots  shall  be  so  carried  out  as  to  prevent  the  formation 
of  dust. 

13.  The  floors  of  the  rooms  in  lead-smelting  works  shall  be  of  paving  stone,  of  metal, 
or  of  concrete,  etc.,  and  shall  be  made  so  that  it  can  be  washed  or  at  any  rate  damped 
out  of  the  usual  work  hours. 

14.  The  walls  and  ceilings,  as  well  as  the  woodwork  supporting  the  roof,  if  there  is 
no  ceiling,  shall  have  a  surface  which  can  be  efficiently  washed,  or  they  shall  be  lime- 
washed  at  least  once  a  year. 

15.  "Workrooms  not  situated  in  the  open  air  shall  always  be  well  lighted  and 
ventilated. 

16.  The  walls  shall  be  as  smooth  as  possible,  and  every  precaution  taken  to  prevent 
dust  from  accumulating. 

17.  The  tools  and  implements  used  to  work  the  ore,  the  oxides,  etc. ,  shall  be  cleaned 
as- often  as  possible,  and  always  before  being  sent  to  the  repair  shops. 

18.  No  food  or  drink  shall  be  kept  or  consumed  in  the  workrooms. 

19.  Employers  shall  provide  for  the  use  of  their  workpeople  a  suitable  dining  room. 
This  room  shall  contain  a  table,  benches,  and  apparatus  for  warming  food,  and  a  set  of 
numbered  pigeonholes  with  locks,  where  each  man  can  place  his  food.  The  room  shall 
be  warmed,  lighted,  and  properly  kept  up  by  the  employer. 

20.  No  alcohol,  or  drink  containing  more  than  10  per  cent  alcohol,  shall  be  brought 
into  the  works. 

No  smoking,  snuff  taking,  or  chewing  tobacco  shall  be  allowed  in  the  workshops. 

21.  In  every  works  there  shall  be  lavatories  of  sufficient  number,  and  conveniently 
placed,  so  that  the  men  may  have  no  difficulty,  and  the  least  possible  loss  of  time,  in 
using  them.  These  lavatories  shall  be  provided  with  the  necessaries  for  washing  the 
body,  hands,  and  nails. 

22.  The  employers  shall  provide  for  the  use  of  the  workmen  a  room  with  shower 
baths,  where  there  shall  be  warm  water,  soap,  and 'towels.  They  shall  make  arrange- 
ments for  every  man  to  have  a  shower  bath  at  least  once  a  week.  The  constituted 
authority  may  order,  for  the  whole  of  the  workpeople,  or  for  the  men  in  certain  work- 
shops, more  frequent  shower  baths. 

23.  In  every  works  there  shall  be  a  room  pro"vided  with  one  or  more  baths  according 
to  the  size  of  the  staff,  and  with  everything  necessary  for  the  men  to  take  a  complete 
bath  if  they  wish  to  or  on  the  surgeon's  order. 


94  BULLETIN    OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

24.  The  employers  shall  provide  for  the  use  of  the  workmen  working  clothes,  and 
shall  see  that  they  are  used.  These  clothes  shall  be  cleaned  at  least  once  a  week  and 
not  be  shaken. 

25.  No  women  or  children  shall  be  employed  in  workshops  where  lead  is  smelted 
or  manipulated. 

26 .  The  employers  shall  provide  for  the  use  of  their  workmen  a  cloakroom,  so  arranged 
that  each  man  can  place  his  clothes  under  lock  and  key.  No  part  of  their  ordinary 
costume  shall  be  laid  down  in  the  workshops,  nor  elsewhere  than  in  the  cloakroom. 

27.  Every  man  wishing  to  be  employed  in  a  lead-smelting  works  shall  produce  a 
medical  certificate  stating  that  he  has  no  physical  defect  rendering  him  specially 
liable  to  suffer  from  the  influence  of  lead. 

28.  In  every  works  a  surgeon  shall  be  appointed  to  examine,  at  least  once  a  month, 
every  man  on  the  premises.  The  results  of  his  visit  shall  be  noted  down  in  a  register, 
wliich  may  be  examined  at  the  office  of  the  works  by  the  authority  appointed  to  in- 
spect the  factory. 

29.  Any  man  who  does  not  conform  to  the  regulations  which  concern  him,  and  who 
becomes  the  victim  of  plumbism,  may  be  discharged,  moved  from  his  workshop,  or 
suspended  according  to  the  regulations  or  custom,  without  having  a  right  to  any 
compensation  other  than  that  which  is  provided  (or  may  be  provided)  by  the  law  or 
assurance  in  case  of  illness. 

30.  Every  case  of  plumbism,  causing  suspension  from  work  for  at  least  48  hours, 
shall  be  notified  to  the  mayoralty,  without  delay,  by  the  employer  or  his  representa- 
tive. Receipt  for  this  notification  shall  be  given  by  the  mayor  and  kept  in  the 
register  appointed  by  regulation  28. 

31.  A  notice  drawn  up  in  a  simple  form,  and  within  the  understanding  of  any  one, 
pointing  out  the  causes  of  plumbism,  the  means  of  preventing  it,  or  of  curing  it,  shall 
be  put  up  in  the  dining  room  of  the  works.  The  wording  shall  be  the  same  as  the 
present  order. 

32.  A  man  employed  in  lead-smelting  workshops  shall  not  be  employed  continu- 
ously more  than  8  hours  in  24  hours  or  more  than  12  hours  in  36  hours.  He  shall  be 
given  from  the  former  an  interval  of  at  least  half  an  hour;  from  the  latter  of  one  hour 
to  eat  food  brought  to  the  works. 

33.  Gases  and  fumes  returned  to  the  atmosphere  shall  only  contain  traces  of  lead. 

34.  The  cleaning  of  the  flues  and  the  condensation  chambers  shall  be  done  by 
porters  in  special  light  costume  and  in  respirators.  These  men  shall  take  a  warm 
shower  bath  after  every  spell  of  work.     No  spell  may  be  longer  than  four  hours. 


APPENDIX  v.— PROVISIONS  FOR  MEDICAL  INSPECTION  AND 
CARE  IN  ENGLISH,  GERMAN,  AND  FRENCH  SMELTERS. 

A.  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

Regulations,  dated  August  12,  1911,  made  by  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  home 
department,  for  the  smelting  of  materials  containing  lead,  the  manufacture  of  red 
or  orange  lead,  and  the  manufacture  of  flaked  litharge. 

13.  (a)  Every  person  employed  in  a  lead  process  shall  be  examined  by  the  surgeon 
once  in  every  calendar  month  (or  at  such  shorter  or  longer  intervals  as  may  be  pre- 
scribed in  writing  by  the  chief  inspector  of  factories)  on  a  date  of  which  due  notice 
shall  be  given. 

(b)  A  health  register  containing  the  names  of  all  persons  employed  in  any  lead 
process  shall  be  kept  in  a  form  aj^proved  by  the  chief  inspector  of  factories. 

(c)  No  person  after  suspension  shall  be  employed  in  any  lead  process  without  writ- 
ten sanction  from  the  surgeon,  entered  in  the  health  register. 

17.  Every  person  employed  in  any  lead  process  shall  present  himself  at  the  ap- 
pointed time  for  examination  by  the  surgeon  in  pursuance  of  regulation  1.3  (a). 

18.  Xo  person  employed  shall,  after  suspension  under  these  regulations  or  under 
any  otlier  regulations  or  special  rules  appljong  to  factories  or  workshops  where  any 
process  involving  the  use  of  lead  is  carried  on,  work  in  any  lead  process  without 
written  sanction  from  the  surgeon,  entered  in  the  health  register. 

B.  GERMANY. 

German  regulations  for  spelter  works  ^  (16th  Februaiy,  1901).^ 

14.  The  occupier  shall  place  the  supervision  of  the  health  of  the  workers  under  the 
care  of  an  approved  surgeon,  whose  name  shall  be  given  to  the  factoiy  inspector. 
The  surgeon  shall  examine  workers  at  least  once  a  month  and  pay  special  attention  to 
signs  of  plumb  ism. 

On  the  report  of  the  surgeon,  workers  who  show  signs  of  injury  to  health  from  em- 
ployment, i.  e.,  signs  of  plumbism,  shall  be  suspended  until  complete  recoverj^,  and 
such  as  show  special  susceptibility  shall  be  suspended  permanently  from  employment 
in  the  distillation  rooms,  in  operations  mentioned  in  regulation  8  and  on  work  con- 
nected with  removal  of  residues. 

15.  The  employer  shall  keep  a  book,  or  have  it  kept  by  one  of  the  works  officials,  to 
register  the  changes  and  number  of  his  workmen,  as  well  as  then  condition  of  health. 
He  is  responsible  for  the  completeness  and  accuracy  of  the  entries,  in  so  far  as  they 
are  not  made  by  the  surgeon.     This  register  shall  contain: 

(1)  The  name  of  the  man  by  whom  the  register  is  kept. 

(2)  The  name  of  the  doctor  responsible  for  the  supervision  of  the  workmen's  state  of 
health. 

(.3)  Christian  and  surname,  age,  domicile,  and  the  date  of  entering  and  leaving  of 
each  workman,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  his  emplo^Tuent. 

1  These  regulations  were  adopted  for  lead  smelters  also;  see  p.  88. 

2  From  Great  Britain  Home  Department.  Lead  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious 
Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials  Containing  Lead  and  in  the  Manufacture  of  Red  and  Orange  Lead 
and  Flaked  Litharge.  By  Edgar  L.  Collis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories.  London,  1910. 
Pp.  23,  24. 

95 


96  BULLETIN"    OF   THE   BUEEAU    OF    LABOR   STATISTICS. 

(4)  The  date  and  the  nature  of  the  sickness  of  a  workman. 

(5)  Date  of  recovery. 

(6)  Date  and  results  of  the  general  medical  examination  as  specified  in  regula- 
tion 14. 

16.  The  occupier  shall  require  the  workers  to  subscribe  to  the  following  conditions: 

(1)  Food  must  not  be  taken  into  the  workrooms.  Meals  may  only  be  taken  outside 
the  workrooms. 

(2)  Workmen  must  only  enter  the  meal  room  to  take  their  meals  or  leave  the  factory, 
after  having  carefully  washed  face  and  hands. 

17.  In  every  workroom,  as  well  as  in  the  cloakroom  and  meal  room,  a  notice  of  the 
preceding  regulations  shall  be  posted  up  by  the  occupier  in  a  conspicuous  place. 

The  occupier  is  responsible  for  seeing  that  the  requirement  of  regulation  16  (1)  is 
obeyed.  He  shall  make  a  manager  or  foreman  responsible  for  the  precise  carrying  out 
of  regulation  16  (1),  (2),  and  (5).^  The  person  thus  made  responsible  shall  see  to  the 
carrying  out  of  the  regulations  and  to  the  exercise  of  necessary  care,  as  prescribed  in 
paragraph  151  of  the  factory  act. 

C.  FRANCE. 

'French,  regulations  {mesures  d' ordre  general) ,  drawn  up  by  the  commission  of  indus- 
trial hygiene,  for  industries  in  which  there  is  danger  of  lead  poisoning. ^ 

8.  Medical  supervision  of  the  staff  employed  in  the  factories  specified  in  regulation 
1  shall  be  made  by  a  surgeon  paid  by  the  employer  and  chosen  by  him  from  a  List 
prepared  every  year.  The  name  of  this  surgeon  shall  be  notified  every  year  to  the 
inspector  of  factories  by  the  employer  during  the  month  of  January. 

The  minister  of  commerce,  after  consulting  with  the  commission  of  the  factory 
department  and  the  commission  of  industrial  hygiene,  when  he  has  heard  the  inter- 
ested parties,  need  not  ratify  this  choice. 

A  periodical  inspection  of  the  staff  shall  take  place  every  month;  further,  every 
workman  who  feels  ill  shall  be  seen  or  visited  by  the  appointed  surgeon.  This  sur- 
geon shall  inform  the  employer  and  the  workman  whenever  he  recognizes  a  case  of 
plumbism. 

The  employer  shall  immediately  send  to  the  inspector  of  factories  an  extract  of 
the  register,  indorsed  according  to  the  next  regulation,  relative  to  the  case  which  has 
been  notified  to  him. 

Workpeople  who  present  symptoms  of  plumbism  shall  be  removed  from  work  places 
named  in  regulation  1.  They  may  only  be  readmitted  on  producing  a  medical  cer- 
tificate stating  their  fitness  for  the  work;  but  they  may  meanwhile  be  employed  in 
other  parts  of  the  factory. 

9 .  The  employer  shall  be  responsible  for  a  register  containing  the  following  details : 

(1)  Kame,  Christian  name,  age,  address,  date  of  commencement  and  of  leaving  of 
each  worker,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  his  work; 

(2)  The  nature,  the  date  of  onset,  and  termination  of  every  attack  of  plumbism 
which  causes  incapacity  from  work  or  necessitates  a  change  of  employment  (by  appli- 
cation of  the  twelfth  line  of  the  preceding  regulation) ; 

(3)  The  date  and  general  conclusions  of  each  of  the  regular  medical  inspections  and 
instructions  with  regard  to  sections  2  and  3  shall  be  written  in  the  register  by  the 
surgeon  himself. 

1  See  No.  20,  p.  90. 

2  From  Greair  Britain  Home  Department.  Lead  Smelting.  Special  Report  on  Dangerous  or  Injurious 
Processes  in  the  Smelting  of  Materials  Containing  Lead  and  in  the  Manufacture  of  Red  and  Orange  Lead 
and  Flaked  Litharge.  By  Edgar  L.  CoUis,  M.  B.,  H.  M.  medical  inspector  of  factories.  London,  1910, 
p.  27. 


LEAD  POISONING  IN  SMELTING  AND  REFINING  LEAD.  97 

10.  The  employers,  etc.,  shall  exhibit  this  decree  eo  that  it  can  be  easily  seen  from 
the  place  where  the  men  are  engaged  and  paid.  They  shall  also  fix  in  the  same  place 
a  -workshop  regulation  imposing  the  following  obligations  upon  the  hands: 

(1)  To  use  the  tools  and  the  means  of  protection  placed  at  their  disposal  to  prevent 
contact  of  the  bare  hands  with  lead  compounds; 

(2)  Not  to  walk  with  bare  feet  in  the  shops; 

(3)  To  use  the  overalls  placed  at  their  disposal  for  work  and  to  return  them  to  their 
proper  place ; 

(4)  To  be  clean,  and  specially  to  rinse  out  the  mouth  after  every  spell  of  work; 

(5)  To  take  regularly  every  month  a  sulphur  bath ; 

(6)  Not  to  smoke,  take  snuff,  or  chew  tobacco;  not  to  bring  or  consume  any  food 
or  any  beverage  witliin  the  work  places  specified ; 

(7)  To  present  themselves  at  the  regular  monthly  visits. 

The  workshop  regulations  must  state  the  name  and  address  of  the  surgeon  appointed 
to  undertake  the  medical  supervision  of  the  staff,  and  also  state  the  places,  days,  and 
hours  that  he  will  examine  sick  workmen  apart  from  the  regular  visits. 

10 A.  Every  man  employed  in  the  specified  places  shall  receive  a  copy  of  instruc- 
tions stating  the  dangers  of  lead  poisoning  and  the  means  necessary  to  avoid  it. 

The  text  of  these  instructions  is  fixed  by  ministerial  order  under  the  advice  of  the 
commission  of  industrial  hygiene  of  the  minister  of  commerce. 

11.  The  minister  of  commerce  may,  by  decree  issued  on  the  report  of  the  factory 
inspectors  and  after  consulting  the  committee  of  arts  and  manufactures  and  the  com- 
mittee of  industrial  hygiene,  exempt  a  factory  permanently  or  provisionally  from 
observing  regulation  3  (1)  and  regulation  5  (1)  when  it  is  recognized  that  the  practical 
observance  of  these  regulations  is  impossible  in  the  factories  imder  consideration 
and  that  the  health  of  the  workmen  is  assured  by  conditions  at  least  equivalent  to 
those  fixed  by  the  present  decree. 

o 

31080°— Bull.  141—14 7 


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